What If?
by Sir Bouf
Summary: This is an alternative Tales of Legendia story. Rated T for language, descriptive violence, and some suggestive themes. There will also be some SenelxChloe. Will be changed to M rated next update.
1. Chapter 1

Though it was already morning Senel was already tired

**Summary: This is an alternative Tales of Legendia story. Rated T for language and descriptive violence. There will also be some SenelxChloe.**

**A/N: There will be both minor and major character deaths in this story. **

**I don't own Tales of Legendia.**

**Chapter 1**

Even though it was only morning, Senel was already tired. He and Will had

just gone through the Misty Mountains and were heading towards the Bandit's Lair. He still couldn't believe that all of this was on a moving ship. Will had told him that much of the Legacy has still been unexplored.

This place is huge! I hope I find Shirley in time before that Bandit does something to her.

"Hey come on!" Senel looked up to see that Will was already at least one hundred yards ahead of him.

"Coming!"

By the time he got to him, Will was already starting to go on ahead. Senel was surprised to see how strong Will was. He could easily take most monsters down in under five minutes. Which Senel was surprised at considering Will was a natural historian.

"Must be his eres that makes him so strong," Senel muttered.

Will stopped and turned around.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing."

Will stared at him for a moment and turned around.

"You better watch yourself, boy."

Senel looked down at the ground and muttered to himself, "The sooner we leave here the better."

He looked up at Will. He was obviously someone not to mess around with. He stood at least six feet tall and had a well-built body. And on top of all that he could use crystal eres. Then he looked down at himself. He was well muscled, but also very scrawny.

I wonder if I could beat him in a fight?

"What the hell are you doing now?"

Senel looked up to see Will staring at him. The sunlight was reflecting off of his glass and he had a cold expression on his face.

"Come on! Do you want to save your sister or not?" Will said. This time Senel could tell by his voice that he was getting angry.

While Senel was running over to Will he heard Will muttering about how he ended up having to do this.

When he caught up with him, Will he pointed towards smoke in the distance. "You see where the smoke is? That is where Moses' camp is at."

After hearing that Senel started sprinting towards the smoke.

"Hey, wait up!"

But Senel didn't wait, he ran until he got to the entrance of the Bandit's Lair.

Senel looked around the camp entrance. There was stuff everywhere but there didn't look like there were any guards.

So this is where they're keeping Shirley. There doesn't seem to be any guards around. Maybe I can rescue her without Will's help?

Just as he was about to enter Will came running up behind him.

"Were you listening to me? I told you to wait up!"

"Well you were to slow, and besides, the quicker I find Shirley the sooner we can get out of here."

Will stared at him for a moment, it looked like he was about to say something but instead he turned and entered the Bandit's Lair.

Senel followed him in.

The lair had a very strong earthy smell to it. The hallways were large but were dimly lit. The walls were a maroon kind of a color with symbols on them.

"We better be careful, we don't know what Moses is capable of."

Senel didn't say anything; he was looking for a room or some place that they might be keeping Shirley.

What do they want with Shirley? Why couldn't thy just leave Shirley alone? As soon as I find that bandit I'm going to make him tell me.

"Well, y'all finally made it!"

Senel looked towards were the voice sounded from. There in front of him was tanned skin man who was a little taller then he was. He had no shirt on; instead he had a strap that connected to a pack, which carried spears. He also wore baggy pants and he an eye patch.

"Y'all most not care fer the Merines that much since it took you so long to get here."

Senel eyes shot instantly towards Moses, he could feel the anger starting to rise inside him. He lifted his arm and pointed towards Moses and was able to say "Why You!" before going after him in a blind rage.

Senel started to charge towards Moses. He was about half way there when he felt something give way form under his feet. Senel looked down to see he was standing on a trap door, but it malfunctioned so it didn't fully open. He then looked up at Moses and gave a roar of anger.

"Ah, crap!" Moses cried and he began to run away, but was not fast enough.

Senel soon caught up to him and punch him in the back of the head. Moses hit the ground with a solid thud; he turned his head to see that Senel was standing next to him, and that he was about to kick him in the face. He wasn't able to get out of the way in time, and Senel's foot hit Moses' nose with a cracking sound.

Blood gushed out of the bandit's noise. Moses' one good eye stung with pain as his own blood went into it. He could keep his eye open just long enough to see that Senel was going to kick him again. But instead Senel decided not to kick him again he bent down and lifted up Moses' head by his hair and asked, "Why did you kidnap Shirley?"

Moses looked at him and said weakly "Sacred Eres."

"What?!"

"Sacred Eares gives you unbelievable power, but the only way to get them is if someone who is powerful grants it to you."

"So you thought Shirley was going to give these "Sacred Eres"?"

"But she is the Merines, right?"

After hearing that Senel filled with rage and kicked Moses in the face. There was another cracking sound but this time it was Moses' jaw that cracked.

"Hey, stop that!"

Senel turned around to see Will behind him.

"Don't you think you should stop kicking him and ask him where Shirley is?"

Senel looked down at Moses, whose face was covered with blood.

"Where's Shirley?"

Moses looked up it was easy to see that Moses' jaw was broken, but he managed to say "S...She's on the top floor…"

"Okay. Come on Senel, we'll deal with him latter."

Senel just stood there and look down at Moses while Will walked past him and started to go down the hallway. Moses' nose and jaw were broken; blood was on every single spot on his face. Senel could even see some blood coming out of the bandit's head, but he wasn't sure though due to the bandit's red hair. Deciding he had enough of looking at the suffering bandit, Senel started down the hallway too. It didn't take him long to catch up to Will. They were almost to the stairs when Will suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?"

"Someone's coming."

"Do you think Moses sent reinforcements?"

"I don't know."

It was just then someone turned the corner. Senel was about to attack but then that someone suddenly screamed. Senel jumped back in surprise, and soon realized who this person was.

Chloe! What's she doing here? Don't tell me she was trying to rescue Shirley!

He looked at her with disgust; she was smaller then he was. She wore a cape and a beret. She had a sword at her side that looked like something a knight would wear. But by the look on her face, which was bewildered and frustrated, it was hard to believe that she was a knight at all.

"What are you doing here?" Will said with some shock.

"I...I came here to rescue Shirley."

"Did you see her?"

"Uh….no. I fell into a trap…"

"Some knight."

"Hey, at least I tried!"

"Yeah, whatever."

Will turned to Senel and bonked him on the head.

"That's enough out of you."

He than turned to Chole and said "Listen, I don't want you running off in a place

like this, so I want you to come with us."

"What?!" Senel said with a mixture of disbelief and anger.

"Listen Senel, she's after the same thing we are, so we might as well work together."

Senel looked down and mumbled, "Yeah, okay."

"Chloe, do you know where the steps that lead upstairs are?"

"Yes, I just passed them."

"Okay then, Chloe led the way."

_I really hope we find Shirley soon. I can't wait to get out of this place._

She led them around the corner to a flight of stairs that led them to a single poorly lit hallway that looked just like the others. There were two doors, one that was in front of them and one at the end of the hallway.

"Senel, Chloe and I will check the one at the end of the hallway; you check the one here."

"Right."

Senel walked up to the door and put his ear against it.

Doesn't sound like any thing is going on, and I don't hear any thing from the other end of the hall… did Moses lie to us?

Just then there was a sound of something being knocked over in the room. He listened carefully for any- "Senel!"

Senel jumped back and then put his ear to the door again. This time the voices were louder there was a man speaking and the other voice sounded like….

"Shirley!'

"Senel!"

"Quiet! You!'

"Shirley, who's in there with you?"

"One of the bandit's m-"

There was a sudden scream.

"Shirley!?"

"Okay, whoever's out there, don't come in, or I will kill this girl!"

"Who are you? And why are you doing this?"

"I'm Csaba; I saw what you did to Moses…. How could you do that to him? He was my friend."

Would this guy kill Shirley if I came in? Probably not, I doubt that Shirley gave Moses his "Sacred Eres" yet so he probably won't kill her.

After a little more thought Senel decided what he will do.

"I'm coming in!'

"What? Didn't I just tell you I'll kill her if you come in?"

"Yeah, but I won't give you any time to kill her."

Senel broke through the door and saw a man with green hair. He had a sword and was standing right next to Shirley…. she looked unconscious.

He then looked around the rest of the room. There was a large open window behind the two of them. To the left of him there was a bed that was surrounded by treasure (probably stolen). Besides that there were four large stone support beams, one at each corner of the room.

Senel started to move towards the man.

"Stay back."

Csaba picked up Shirley and but the blade next to her throat.

Senel saw that Csaba's eyes were full of tears, but they also showed hate towards him for what he did to Moses.

He's seems weak, I somehow doubt he would actually even consider killing her. Looks like he would prefer to drop that sword and run away.

"Okay, I know you're no-"

At that moment, the ground started to shake. Senel lost his balance and fell to his knees. He looked up and a mask of horror spread across his face. Csaba was trying to stay on his feet, but it was hard to do while holding Shirley. He had a look of worry on his face as he tried desperately to hold the sword and Shirley and to keep his balance at the same time. Suddenly, Csaba fell forward and his hand that had held Shirley let go of her, but the other hand that had the sword lowered. As Shirley fell, the sword impaled her through the stomach.

It went all the way through her body, and when the sword came out through the other side blood was dripping down the blade. She landed on Csaba, who screamed when he realized what had happened to Shirley. In his panic he got up quickly, and while doing so flipped Shirley's body around. This caused a pool of blood to form around her body quickly. Senel looked into the blood to see his own reflection. His face had a look of indescribable pain on it; not willing to look at himself with an expression like that he returned his gaze to Shirley.

Sh...Sh…Shirley…oh…no…

Since Csaba got up so fast he stumbled a little. When was able to keep his balance he turned around and looked at Shirley. His face began to turn white. He looked down at the sword that was still in her, and at the pool of blood around her body. But the one thing that horrified him the most was the expression on Shirley's face. Even though she was unconscious her faced still showed pain.

"This is horrible…the pain…. I can't imagine..." He then looked at Senel, who didn't bother to get off of his knees; he just sat there looking at Shirley.

After a moment of just looking at her, Senel turned his head toward Csaba. His expression wasn't hatred or rage, no, it was helplessness. Senel started talking but Csaba couldn't hear anything he was saying.

Csaba realized he needed to get out of the lair, and started walking towards the door, but stopped; he looked at Senel and Shirley one last time and said in a sad voice, "I'm sorry.'

He walked out onto the hallway.

I better go help Moses…. I hope he is okay. I guess when I am downstairs helping him I could round up the men an-

"Hey, you!"

Csaba turned to see a man and a women standing on the upper end of the hallway. They both had worried looks on their faces. So they started towards him. Csaba, not knowing what to do, ran down the stairs.

"Hey, wait!"

And Will and Chloe started to run after him, but Chloe stopped at the room he came out of.

"Chloe, what's wrong?" Will asked her in a worried voice.

Chloe said nothing instead she pointed her finger to the open room. Will reared back in disgust at what he saw. In the room Senel was leaning over Shirley's body. He saw the pool of blood that had collected under Shirley, but what he couldn't stop looking at was the sword that she was impaled on.

Chloe screamed at this. Even though she was trained to see this kind of thing, it was her first time actually seeing it.

She started to shake, and feeling like she was about to vomit headed towards the upper end of the hallway. All Will could do was try to calm her down while sometimes looking into the room.

But Senel didn't notice Csaba leave or Chloe's cry; he just stood there. Then, he bent down and picked her up. He looked down at Shirley's face; she was still in pain. He didn't know what to do though. He looked around helplessly for someone, but he never took notice of Chloe or Will. Then Shirley started to stir, Senel looked in surprise, Shirley started talking but Senel could only hear….

"Senel…I…"

Then her mouth moved but no words came out. It must have pained her to talk and Senel was about to tell her to stop, but then her eyes shot open and she made a deep moaning sound. In surprise Senel dropped her, and she landed on the floor with a hollow kind of sound.

After realizing that she was dead, Senel looked down at her and began to cry.

Meanwhile, outside of the room Will had finally managed to get Chloe under control.

"Are you sure you will be able to handle yourself?"

"Ye…yeah, I'm pretty sure I can handle it…"

"You're a knight, aren't you? You're supposed to be able to handle this kind of thing." Will said this with little emotion causing Chloe to start to cry.

"Stop crying! Get a hold of yourself!"

Chloe sniffled a little but then stopped.

"Are you sure you're ready?"

Chloe didn't say anything she just nodded her head.

They both entered in the room, but neither of them did anything but stand there quietly. And then after a while Chloe said in a sorrowful voice "Coolidge….what….what…happened?"

Senel, just realizing that Will and Chloe were there, turned around and looked at them. He started to talk but the words just didn't come out right. So he just turned around and kept looking at Shirley. Then, a minute later he managed to say in a whisper, "She….she…is…dead….the…only….person…I…had…left…is…dead…"

"Coolidge…"

Chloe started to come over and start to comfort him "Coolidge I-"

"WHAT THE HELL!"

Surprised, everyone looked towards to whoever said that, and there, standing in front of the open window was the man they saw at Lumen Springs. He had a look of pure rage, hatred, and disgust on his face. His eyes were set on the sword that was still impaled into Shirley. Then his eyes moved up to Senel, and he then looked at Chole and Will.

"You…you killed her!"

Senel had a look of anger and helplessness on his face.

He then started in a meek and quiet voice "It...it wasn't-"

"Shut Up! You Orerines bastard!"

He then started to look around, and while doing so he started breathing heavily. Then he began to move towards were Senel was. Senel didn't move; all he did was stare down at Shirley. The man stopped in front of her body and bent down. He put his hand on the sword handle and pulled the sword out of her. The sword came out with ease, blood still dripping off of it. The man held it up and inspected the blade.

"I will kill you now, with the blade with which you killed the Merines."

After hearing this Will and Chloe looked at each other and Chloe in a weak voice said "W...What?"

"You heard me; I said I will kill you!"

He then looked at Senel who was still looking down at Shirley. "You will be first."

"Senel!" "Coolidge!" Chloe and Will both shouted at the same time.

But Senel didn't move, he just kept looking down.

Coolidge, why won't you move! Can't you see he's about to…wait, he isn't thinking to… !

"Cooli-"

Then, the earth began to shake again, but this time it was stronger. There was a loud cracking sound that caused Will, Chloe, and the man to look at one of the support beams. The one nearest to the door looked like it was beginning to fracture, and the wall around it was beginning to crack.

Realizing what was going to happen, Will shouted frantically, "Senel, Chloe, we have to get out of here, this place is going to collapse!'

Realizing this too the man muttered, "Damn."

He then turned towards the window and suddenly he had a black pair of wings. He lifted himself up and flew out the window.

Louder cracks were heard. This time they started forming over the whole wall.

Seeing this Will turned to Chloe and said "We have to get out of here, now!"

He then turned to Senel who was still looking down at Shirley and he shouted "Senel, come on!"

Senel still didn't move; his eyes were in a transfixed gaze looking at Shirley.

A piece of the roof cam crashing down into the room and landed on the bed, which it crushed. Now a rumbling sound could be heard, and the floor began to give way.

Chloe with a look of intense fear looked at Senel and began shouting at him to come on.

But Senel didn't hear what she said over the rumbling; he just kept looking down at Shirley.

How could Shirley be dead? I worked so hard to keep her safe…. I did anything to protect her… and now this has happened…what went wrong…why…..why….

A piece of the roof fell down hitting Senel in the head, knocking him unconscious.

**Well, thank you for reading my story!**

**Next Chapter coming soon!**

**A/N: I'm not a Shirley hater, but I don't like her. Her death was for plot advancement.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I still don't own Tales of Legendia, but I do own Rouland and Major Stetson.**

**For the people who reviewed my first chapter: Thank You!!**

Chapter 2

When Senel woke up, darkness was surrounding him. He was about to call out for someone, but then realized he was standing up. Shocked by this, Senel turned his head from side to side franticly, but all he saw was darkness.

"Where am I?"

He started to walk forward; his feet made an echo every time they hit the ground.

What is this place…Where are Will and Chloe?

Senel kept walking for a while longer until he saw a faint light. A feeling of hope rushed through him as he made his way over to the light. He kept running until it hurt for him to breathe, but still the light didn't seem to get any closer.

I don't think I'm getting any closer to the light.

Senel shrugged off the thought and continued to run. After what seemed like hours of running Senel didn't appear to be any closer to the light then from when he started. He dropped to his knees and began to pant heavily.

_How far away is the light?_

Senel felt very tired from running, so decided that he was going to lie down for a little bit. As he rested he stared at the darkness; it seemed to go on forever. He kept staring up at the darkness until he noticed a faint light shining on him.

Senel got up and turned to the light. There, standing in front of him was Shirley; she was wearing all white, and her hair has also turned white. The light that was on Senel seemed to be coming from the white dress Shirley was wearing. Senel then looked at her face; it showed disappointment.

"What a failure," Shirley spoke in a voice that showed no emotion.

Senel felt hurt and guilty at what she said, he looked down and said in a hurt voice, "Shirley…I'm…I'm…sorry…."

Then he looked up at Shirley. She still looked at him with the same disappointed look on her face.

"Shirley, you know it wasn't my fault, right?"

She didn't say anything for a moment then said, "Making up excuses for being a failure, my, you are useless. You couldn't save me; you couldn't save Stella; and now I doubt you can even save yourself."

Senel was on the verge of crying after hearing those words. She was right though; he failed at saving Shirley or Stella, and was making excuses for not being able to save her.

"Senel, Stella and I are willing to forgive you of your failure."

Senel felt a swell of hope in his chest, and he said in a voice full of hope,

"You-you will?"

"Yes."

"What should I do, for you and Stella to forgive me?"

Shirley turned towards where the light was and pointed.

"You see where that light is?"

Senel turned too; it was the same light he was trying to reach.

"Yeah…that was the same light I was trying to get to."

"Senel, that light is special."

"How?"

"When you enter it, it will take you to the place you must desire."

Senel didn't respond to this; he just kept looking.

"Senel, what place do you desire most?"

After a moment of thought Senel said, "I want to be with you and Stella back at the village."

He looked at Shirley and she looked back at him. Her face still didn't change.

After a moment of silence Senel said in a discouraged voice, "I tried so hard to get there, but I just can't."

Shirley was silent for a moment and then said, "Senel, there is only one way to get to that light.'

"How's that?"

"You have to die."

Senel was startled by this, and fell back. He looked at Shirley, and then in a desperate voice said, "Shirley…there…there's got to be another way…."

Shirley looked back at Senel; her exasperation changed from disappointment to anger.

"No Senel, it is the only way."

"Bu-. "

"Senel, it would be better for you."

"How?"

"Well, Stella and I would forgive you, and you would get to live with us, forever."

"Yeah but…there are still things in life worth living for…"

"Like what?"

Senel didn't answer her; he just looked down.

"There is no more point for you to live. If you did choose to live you would just be hurting yourself, and other people."

Senel didn't say anything; he just kept looking down.

_She's right….there is nothing left for….me._

Just then the whole place became a blur. Shirley was starting to fade in and out, and Senel began hearing voices. He couldn't make them out at first, but then they were the only things he could hear.

"I hope Coolidge is alright…."

"Alcott said he should wake up soon…"

Before it was to late to be able to see Shirley, Senel turned over towards her. Her face was the only thing that stood out from her blur. Once he got a good look at her face he opened his mouth and was going scream at what he saw. Her eyes. They were pitch black, with blood streaming from them. Her mouth was moving, but Senel couldn't hear her over the voices. She then started towards the light, and there was someone else there; it looked like Stella. When she got there, they just looked at him; Shirley's eyes were all he could see. He looked away from the two, he now noticed that here was darkness was everywhere around him now. He was beginning to see nothing but darkness.

**--**

Senel felt the warm sun over his body as he began to wake up. He opened his eyes, and looked straight forward to see a large window. He then looked out into the street, but saw very few people out. He then looked up to see the tops of houses; he saw on that looked like Will's.

_I must be in Werites Beacon._

He then turned and looked at the rest of the room; there was a chair and bookcase on the other side of the room. Behind him was a divider, and behind that was another bed. The door stood about ten feet away from the other bed, and was ajar. After concluding that there was nothing left to see, Senel lay back down and began to think.

Is there really anything left for me here? Yes, there are still some things that I have left…. I just can't….

Senel heard footsteps entering the room; he turned around to see Will, Chloe, and a tall man with brown hair and dark clothes enter the room.

"Do you feel alright?" Chloe asked in a caring voice that surprised Senel a little bit.

"Yeah."

"He should be fine in about a day," said the man who was looking at Senel.

"That's good to hear," Will said.

"Alcott, will there be any lasting effects?" Chloe said.

He looked at Senel closely, and after a moment of thought he said, "No."

"That's good."

Alcott was about to say something else when a sudden jolt of pain filled Senel's head, which caused him to groan.

"Hmmm, you're still feeling pain? It seems what I was about to say was true. Well, I guess I'm going to have to give you some medicine."

He reached into his pocket and took out a small vial. He pulled off the cork and lifted it towards Senel's face.

"This is going to make him a little drowsy, so don't expect him to do much while you're here."

"That's okay, just knowing that Coolidge is safe is good enough for us."

When the vial got to his mouth Senel could smell a strong pungent odor coming from it. Trying not to breathe, Senel let the doctor pour the medicine into his mouth.

"The medicine should work almost instantly; you two can sit over there if you want."

Alcott pointed to two chairs by the corner of the room that Senel had somehow missed seeing.

He put the vile the back into his pocket.

"I have to go now, though. Elsa needs my help with a patient."

He started to walk towards the door and then stopped.

"Oh, one more thing; visiting hours are over at five o'clock."

The medicine that Alcott gave Senel was starting to take effect. He soon became very sleepy and felt his eyes getting heavy. The last thing he heard was the door closing.

**--**

Senel woke up to talking it was Chloe and Will. He turned his head over in the direction of their words, but he was too tired to open his eyes, so all he did was listen.

"Raynard, who were those soldiers that were by the entrance to the Bandit's Lair when we left?"

"Those were the troops of Vaclav Bolud, third prince of the Crusand Empire."

"What!? Why are they here?"

"They were after Shirley."

"Why?"

"They believed that she was the Merines."

"What did they want her for?"

"We think it was to activate a weapon onboard the Legacy."

"What did they do when they found out she was dead?"

"They went back to their base."

"They have a base?"

"Yes, apparently Crusand had troops stationed on the Legacy."

"Why were they stationed here?"

"…. They were experimenting on the Radiant…."

Neither of them spoke for a moment.

"How did you find all of this out, Raynard?"

"When we returned I informed the Holy Sovereign about the troops. I then led a group of Rexalian troops to Vaclav's base."

"The Holy Sovereign! But isn't she the leader of Rexalia?"

"Yes."

"But what is she doing here?"

"You know, the Legacy isn't ruled by any nation."

"Yes, so?"

"How do you think it remains independent?"

"So Rexalia has an army on the Legacy… I never heard of any army on the

Legacy…"

"All of the Rexalian soldiers are in incognito as normal citizens."

"Raynard, there must be other reasons that Rexalia wants to keep the Legacy independent. Surely there are others things here they want."

"There has been much talk of very powerful weapons on board Legacy. Rexalia is a nation that wants world peace; so in order to keep world peace they defend these weapons."

There wasn't any more talking after that. Senel was beginning to feel very weak, and wasn't sure if he could keep conscious for much longer. A clock began to toll. Senel counted the tolls….

_2 tolls…_

Senel was able to stay awake, much to his surprise.

"What did you and the Rexalian soldiers do when you got to the fortress?"

"We were able to take Vaclav's soldiers by surprise. They were pretty unprepared for an attack, and we took the whole fortress in less then a day."

"What about Vaclav?"

"He was able to slip away before we could reach him."

"Damn."

"We were able to capture two of the Terrors, though."

"Really! Which ones?"

"Melanie and Cashel."

"What about Stingle?"

"He escaped when Vaclav's troops were surrendering."

"And he calls himself a swordsman. Oh well, at least we were able to-"

The door burst open, and a man with an urgent voice began to tell Will and Chloe something, but Senel couldn't make it out. There was a sound of people leaving the room; Senel thought he was alone, but then he heard a very faint voice.

"Get better soon C-" was he was able to hear.

Then he heard the person leave.

After a moment of thought, Senel said in a weak voice, "Thanks, Chloe…"

As Senel lay there, everything started fade away. He couldn't hear anything anymore; he felt his whole body getting heavy.

**--**

There was noise in the street. Senel was just conscious enough to sit up and see what was happening. There was a big line of carts full of household items.

Why are so many people moving?

Men pulled the carts as women and children followed along side of it. Some of them were crying, but most just had a solemn look on their face. To the side of the street were many bystanders with confused and worried faces.

What's going on?As he continued to look out he noticed something. All the men caring the carts were wearing swords. They also had on similar clothes.

Out of nowhere a young woman ran in front of one of the men carrying the carts. She started to talk to him, but the man just pushed her out of his way and continued to walk on. After she recovered from being pushed she went to the next man in the line. The same thing happened as with the next man. She tried another three more times, but they always did the same thing. After finally realizing she couldn't get them to do what she wanted, so she left with a solemn look on her face.

Senel tried to get out of bed to see what was going on, but his head started to hurt again. So he just lay back down and began to fall asleep. As he was falling asleep he heard the tolling of the clock. It tolled three.

**--**

"Coolidge, come on, wake up."

Senel slowly opened his eyes to see Chloe and Will standing over him. They both had worried looks on their faces.

"Chloe, Will, what's the matter?"

They both lend back as he sat up. Senel could see that both of them looked tired and frail.

"Senel, there's something we need to tell you."

"What is it?"

Chloe and Will gave each other a nervous glance. Will sighed and looked out the window. Chole just looked down at her feet.

"Well?"

After a moment of awkward silence Will looked up and said, "We are now at war with the Radiant."

Senel felt light headed, and the room began to spin. It took him a minute to calm himself down.

"Wh…Why?"

"Because they believe we killed the Merines."

Senel just sat there with a look of shock and anger. He felt his body beginning to shake. The room started to spin, but Senel was able to calm himself down.

When Senel was sure he was fully calmed down he said in a shaky voice "But…but we never killed her…."

"Senel, they believe that you, Chloe, and I killed Shirley; they think we did this to show our hatred to the Radiant."

Senel looked down into his lap, and the horrible pain was back in his head. He could now feel some of his tears coming down his face. Chloe and Will both looked away, they didn't want to see Senel in this state.

"Will…"

"Yes?"

"Will we have to fight them?"

Will was silent for a moment, and then he said, "Only if they attack us."

Senel hoped that they would never attack Weritas Beacon, but he knew that it would happen one day. Then Senel thought of something.

"Will, I heard that the Rexalian army was aboard the Legacy."

Will was surprised by this comment and was about to say something but decided not to.

"Coolidge, the Rexialian army is needed in their own country."

"Why?"

"It wasn't just the Radiant on the Legacy that declared war on us, all the Radiant did."

"Senel, over the last hour there have been great uprisings of the Radiant all over the mainland. Rexalia has one of the largest Radiant populations in the world; they need all of their solders they have to protect its citizens. It has been reported that fifty people have already been killed."

"Were those people who were pulling the carts soldiers of the Rexalian Army?"

Will had a look of mild surprise on his face.

"You saw that?"

"Yeah."

"Yes, all the men you saw pulling the carts were Rexalian soldiers."

Senel sat there quietly trying to contemplate all of what had seen while he was awake, and all the events in the rest of the world.

"Will, how are we going to protect Werites Beacon without an army?"

"We are going to form a militia and fortify the city."

There was a knock on the door, all three of them turned to see a small boy. He came in and approached Will, he pulled out a letter and gave it to him, then left the room. Will read the letter, and the more he read the paler his face became. When he finished it, he dropped the letter and sat down on a chair.

"Raynard, what's wrong?"

Will took a deep breath and said, "There has been an attack on the outskirts of Werites Beacon, and the attackers were Radiant."

Chloe and Senel were quiet. They didn't know how to respond or how to act.

"Chloe, Senel, I have to discuss some things."

Will got off the chair and started towards the door.

"Will, is it my fault that this war has started?"

Will looked back at Senel, who was now staring into his lap.

"Is it my fault that Shirley and others will die?"

Will didn't know what to say. After a few seconds he said, "Senel, Shirley's death wasn't your fault."

He turned and left the room. The clock tolled five times. Senel looked up at Chloe, who was beginning to head for the door.

"Chloe."

She stopped, but she didn't turn around.

"Chloe, please don't go…. please…."

"Coolidge I have to g-"

"Please don't leave me alone."

She then turned back at Coolidge; he was looking at her with watery eyes. She didn't know what to do.

After some thought she said, "Coolidge, I guess can stay for a little bit."

"Thank you."

She walked back to the chair, as she sat she just started to notice how long the shadows were in the room. Neither of them talked for a long time; Senel went back to looking into his lap and Chloe blankly stared at Senel.

"Chloe."

"Yes?"

"Thank you for comforting me."

Chloe was both surprised and confused at what Senel had said.

"Coolidge, I didn't do anything."

He stared up at her with grateful eyes and made a weak smile.

"You where here, and that helped me."

Chloe felt a weird sensation inside of her; she looked down at her to avoid having Coolidge seeing her discomfort. She could barely see her feet; it was so dark in the room. She heard Coolidge get out of bed and walk towards her. When he got in front of her she looked up at him, she could only see the prominent areas of his face. He looked down at her.

"Thank you; knowing that my lasts hours were spent peacefully helps me."

She didn't respond. She just couldn't stop looking at his face.

Seeing that Chloe wasn't going to say anything Senel continued, "Chloe, knowing that Shirley's death and this war is my fault, I really do appreciate what you have done for me."

Chloe still didn't say anything, but now she didn't want to look at Coolidge any more. He went back to his bed and lay down. After a while of not moving Chloe guessed that Coolidge was asleep. She made her way quietly to the door; before she opened it she thought she heard Coolidge talking in his sleep about the light and how he was going to it soon. Before she left she locked his door from the outside and went to get Raynard.

Senel was still until he was sure Chloe wasn't going to come back. He walked over to the door and fond it locked. Not being discouraged by this, Senel stepped back a little and kicked the door out. Astonishingly, no one came to see what the noise was, so Senel quickly went down the hallway and down the stairs. No one was in the lobby ether, so Senel dashed through the door and left.

The night air felt good against his skin as he went outside. Senel looked around and saw that the streets were empty. He decided not to run through the streets, so he simply walked to where he was headed. The only light in the street came from the street lamps and the full moon; all of the houses had their lights turned off. When he got to the main road he saw men who were wearing swords standing around in the street. Senel didn't know what would happen to him if he was caught by the soldiers, so he tried to think of another way, but the only other way he could think of was going past Will's house, which he didn't want to do.

"Hey you!"

Senel was caught up in his thought he didn't see one of the men come towards him. The man was a very tall and thin, he hard on dark clothes and had a sword at his side. When he got up to Senel he looked at him suspiciously.

"There's a curfew currently under way; why are you breaking it?"

"I wanted to help the wounded that were attacked."

"Well thank you for offering to help, but we don't need it."

"Why not?"

"We have plenty of people tending to them."

Senel was starting to get frustrated; this militiaman was making it difficult.

"Rouland, what are you doing?"

Senel looked to where the voice came from; there was an ill looking man that was very pale. He was also very short, no more than five feet tall.

"Uh, Major Stetson sir!"

"Why is there a civilian out past curfew?"

"He uh, wanted to help with the wounded sir."

"I see, well then why don't you let him?"

"But sir! We have enough-"

"Rouland, your decision doesn't mean anything. My decision does. Do you not agree?"

"Y-Yes sir!"

"Then let him go to the wounded, you moron!"

"Right away sir!"

Rouland moved out of his way and pointed down the street to the inn.

"They are being treated at the inn."

As Senel made his way passed he heard Rouland mumble about how much of a conceited son of a bitch the major was, and Senel agreed with him. He then made his way past the major. He was glad that the major didn't speak to him. When he was a little farther down the road, Senel felt bad for Rouland. Having a higher who was a conceited son of a bitch must suck.

When got to the inn he walked right past it and went to the gate. He found the drawbridge up. He looked over to the crank and saw a young child next to it. He walked over to the kid and looked down; he was asleep. Moving carefully around him Senel went to the crank and slowly lowered the drawbridge. He quickly moved passed the kid and ran onto the drawbridge and then outside.

I wonder how long it will take them to realize that the drawbridge is down?

But Senel didn't care he just kept walking on. After a while of walking Senel suddenly realized that he didn't know how he was going to kill himself yet. He knew he wanted to do it outside of Werites Beacon, but now that he got this far he wasn't sure on what to do. After not doing anything for a while, Senel heard something distant, and he knew what it was, and then he knew how he was going to do it. He started towards the noise. He was lucky there was a full moon out, or else it would have taken him a lot longer to get to the noise. But it only took him a short time to get to it, the place he decided to end his life and to start a new one with Stella and Shirley. The sea.

Senel looked down; from on top of the cliff he could see the waves pounding against the rocks. Very sharp rocks, which still have not been worn away by the sea. He then started to back away from the edge of the cliff.

Stella, Shirley, I hope after I do this that all three of us will live together in happiness.

He stopped about twenty feet away from the cliff he began to run. The cool ocean breeze felt good as he ran off the edge of the cliff.

**Another Cliffhanger? (Sorry about that)**

**Please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm sorry it took so long to update. I have a lot of assignments due last week.**

**For the people who have reviewed my story: Thank You!!**

**Chapter 3**

Chloe walked up to the front of Will's house. It was the only house in the entire city that had its lights on. As she moved forward she saw two figures in front of the gate. One of them moved towards her. When the figure got nearer to her she could tell that it was a militiaman. He looked very old, but he had muscle bulging from the sides of his clothes.

"What are you doing out?" he had a very low voice that seemed to make his body vibrate.

"I came here to speak to Raynard."

"Civilians aren't allowed out."

"But I need to see him, it's very important."

"Whatever it is, I'm sure it's not as important has what he is currently dealing with."

"One of his friends is in danger; I need to talk to him."

"As the leader of Werites Beacon, Will doesn't have time to listen to the petty needs of his friends. He has to listen to the needs of the people."

Chloe stared at him. She couldn't believe what he was saying. She felt a wave of anger pass through her, but she was able to control it.

"Listen, just tell Raynard that I have a message for him."

"I'm not going to be taking orders from a civilian!"

He took out his sword and pointed it towards her.

"Get back to your house now! Or you might have to get hurt. I have no qualms for hurting civilians."

He started towards her; she began to back away, and while backing away she pulled out her sword.

His eyes widened when she drew her sword. His face began to show hate and rage. He started to sprint towards her, when he got to her he knocked the sword out of her hands. Chloe just stood there, unable to react to the guard's actions. He lifted his sword above his head and was about to strike her down when someone started shouting.

"The hell are you doing Grunion?!"

Chloe looked to see who had said that. There, standing not far away from them was a tall and thin man who had on darker clothes then Grunion. The look of confusion was on his face as he began to make his way towards them.

"Rouland, this civilian here tried to attack me."

The confusion on Rouland's face changed to curiosity.

"She tried to attack you?"

"That's right; she pulled out a damned sword and was going to attack me."

Rouland looked at Chloe. He looked at over for a moment and then looked down at her sword. There was a long silent moment that interrupted when Grunion said, "See her damned sword? Just like I told you she was going to-"

"I don't think she was going to attack you," Rouland said.

His expression changed again this time to doubt. Grunion's expression was that of shock.

"You can't seriously believe that she wasn't going to attack me?"

"Yes Grunion, I can seriously believe that she wasn't attack you."

He turned to Chloe.

"Now, what were you originally here for?"

"I came here to speak with Raynard."

"What is it that you're going to tell him?"

"One of his friends is in danger, and he needs to know about it."

"Very well, I guess we can let you pass."

"Rouland! Do you know how much trouble we're going to be in if it's found out that we allowed a civilian out during curfew?!"

Rouland seemed not to care that much, "Major Stetson let a civilian out just a while ago."

"Major Stetson?"

"Yeah. But anyways, just let her pass."

Grunion grunted but let her pass. Chloe quickly walked pass both of them. She made her way to the door and quietly opened it. When she got into the foyer she heard a collage of arguing voices.

"We need to strike them now-"

"No! We need to wait and-"

"I think maybe we should try for peace-"

Chloe made her way to the next door. She wasn't sure what to do. After some thought she reached for the knob, and opened the door slowly. When the door was fully opened she saw a group of seven or eight men sitting in the living room. They were either looking at maps or arguing amongst themselves. Many of their faces she recognized as the top local merchants of Werites Beacon. She doubted that any of them had any military training.

One of them looked up from the map he was looking at; he was the only one that noticed her.

"What are you doing here?" he said this in a very cold voice. Chloe recognized him as Mr. Ravin, the owner of the doubters' house.

Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and looked at her. She felt very uncomfortable; she wished someone would do something.

"Chloe? What are you doing here?"

She turned around and was thankful to see Raynard standing there. He had a perplexed look on his face.

"Is something the matter?"

"Yes….It's Coolidge."

"What about him?"

"I think… he is going to do…something."

"Something like what?" Will started to sound worried.

"I think… he is going to commit suicide."

"What!?"

"He kept saying how every thing was his fault and… something about his final hours…."

Will went right to the door and began to go outside. Chloe did the same thing. While she was heading out of the door she could hear worried voices of the merchants in the room. By the time she got outside Will was already turning the corner and that led to the hospital, Chloe started to sprint after him. Both Rouland and Grunion had confused looks on their faces has she passed them. When she did get to the corner Will was nowhere to be seen, so she continued towards the hospital. When she got to the hospital she saw Will beginning to enter it. When Chloe got inside, the hospital was quiet; she didn't hear anything moving, or any clock ticking. Chloe made her way upstairs; she saw a door that was hanging out in the hallway. She walked toward it; horror grew upon her face as she realized that it was Coolidge's room. She walked in front of the doorway and looked in, there was only Raynard standing in the room.

He looked at her with solemn eyes and said, "Chloe, Senel is….gone."

**--**

There was bright light everywhere. Senel felt as if he was being lifted up. As he descended upwards the light grew brighter and brighter. When he finally stopped the light was so intense that even if he closed his eyes, Senel was still blinded by it. He then felt himself being slowly dropped back down. When his feet hit the ground the light was no longer so prominent. He opened his eyes and looked around. He was in the village, from his memories. Everything was there, the small stream that went through the village, the buildings and the trees were all there. Even the smells and the sounds were the same. Senel looked at one of the buildings; he saw two people by the entrance of it.

_Is that Stella and Shirley!?_

He started to walk over towards the figures. On his way he began to see other people from the village as well. Little children were running in front of him, men and women talking about the day's occurrences; all of it was the same. As he neared the building he realized something.

_That's the house we used to live in._

When he was only a few yards away from the building, he realized he had been right. There standing idly, just a few yards away was Stella and Shirley. They were talking about something, though Senel couldn't make it out. They began to laugh, and after a moment of laughter Stella and Shirley were both about to go inside the building. Senel tried to say something but couldn't. He just stood there watching them.

Shirley was already inside and Stella was too, but then she turned her head in Senel's direction. There was an instant joy on her face when she saw him. She then turned again and said something; Shirley came out almost instantly. There was also a look of extreme joy on her face when she saw him. They both started to motion him to come over to them. Senel felt his feet move forward; he was so close to them, all he could feel was happiness as he made his way towards them. Then Senel began to notice something. The trees, the stream, the buildings, the people, they all began to fade away. The closer he got to them the more things began to fade. By the time he had reached Stella and Shirley, they were the only things remaining. Shirley was the only one aware of what was going on. Stella was still oblivious to what was happening to her surroundings.

Stella started to talk to him, her face still didn't change expression, but Shirley's did. Her face had a mixture of worry and anger. Senel was too busy looking at Shirley's expression to realize what Stella was doing. She had taken him by the arm and was staring to bring him to where their home used to be. He only started to notice when he felt a pulling on his arm. He looked up; Stella was getting closer to the entrance when she stopped suddenly. Her face quickly changed from joy to panic, then to horror. Senel saw what was wrong; Stella was starting to fade away. She began to have a look of someone who is screaming, but Senel couldn't hear her. Her arms and her legs were starting to disappear; Senel didn't know what to do, so he looked for Shirley for help. To his surprise she was wearing the same clothes he had seen her wearing when she told him about committing suicide. He tried to talk but he no words came out. He was beginning to feel afraid, he didn't know how to help Stella, and if he didn't hurry she would-

_No….._

There in front of him were the remains of Stella only her head was left. She was still screaming though, he saw her fade more and more. He turned back to Shirley, who had no expression on her face. He started to scream at her for not helping, he-

"Senel."

Senel was shocked to hear Shirley.

"Senel, you failed."

Senel began to hear screaming. He could hear Stella screaming for him, for him to help. He couldn't do anything at all. After a minute of standing there, his back turned to Stella her screams subsided. He looked at Shirley, she was the only person left besides him.

"Shirley….why did this happen?"

"I already told you Senel, you failed."

Senel suddenly realized what she meant.

"But-But I jumped off the cliff… it should have-"

"But it didn't Senel."

Senel was sure it would have killed him, he was so sure.

"Senel, I don't want you to leave."

"Shirley…..I don't want to try to kill myself again…."

"That's okay, Senel."

Senel was surprised at what he heard. He thought she would be angry.

"Why?"

"Because I'll kill."

She put her hand to her side and lifted a sword out; Senel knew she didn't have that when he met her. She stepped forward, while doing so she drew her sword. Senel began to back away, not sure of what to do. Shirley ran towards him faster than Senel had anticipated. For some reason he stopped and put his arms over his face, he heard her run up to him, and then felt a horrible pain in his left arm. He looked down, blood was gushing out of his left arm. The pain was so immense; it hurt him to move it. He slowly moved it down to his side, where it hung limply. He looked to see Shirley standing in front of him, holding a sword with his blood on it. He watched the blood dripping off the edge and when it hit the ground something happened. The ground seemed to absorb it, and then the whole entire ground turned the color of his blood.

Shirley was only a couple of feet away from him; he knew he had to get out of the way. He looked up at Shirley; she raised the sword again and started to charge towards him. He smoothly dodged her attack. While his left arm moved from his side, the pain it caused was tremendous. Senel put his right arm over his left to keep it from moving again. He knew what he had to do. He stood where he was and braced himself for another one of Shirley's attacks. He carefully let go of his left arm, and with his right hand free he curled it up into a fist. Shirley came running again, this time faster then before. She raised her sword high; she was going to deliver the finishing blow this time, he could tell.

When she got to him Senel moved out of the way. He heard a whistling sound go past him as he raised his arm and punched Shirley in the face. But when he punched her something was not right, it felt like he was punching glass. When he put his hand back to his side Shirley moved her head down so fast Senel couldn't see the damage he had done. Then something dropped onto the ground, Senel looked down to see a shiny piece of glass. He looked back up at Shirley she was looking back. Senel wished he had never looked up. Shirley's face had cracks on it; the spot where he punched her at had a large dent. Shirley began to step forward, the closer she got to him the more her face began to crack, and then Senel noticed it was not just her face cracking, but her whole body. Cracks were on her arms, her legs, and her hair.

When she got about three feet from Senel she stopped. Senel was looking into her cracking eyes. They showed nothing. Realizing that she was trying to kill him Senel looked down, to see why. Her sword was gone. More pieces began to fall off of Shirley. Senel looked up to see why; it looked like she was trying to smile.

"Senel," said Shirley in a voice that sounded demented.

"Yes," Senel began to back away from Shirley.

"If you don't want to be forgiven it's okay."

"Shirley, I-"

"Senel, since you refuse forgiveness you must go back."

"Go back where?"

"Back outside of the light."

Her body began to shake; pieces soon began to fall off of her. Within a matter of seconds her body was a pile of glass on the floor that was the same color as Senel's blood. The pile began to fade away, as did the floor. Soon Senel saw nothing, felt nothing, but he did still feel the pain in his arm. He continued to feel the pain as he slowly began to fade away himself.

**--**

Chloe felt the same feeling she had felt when Coolidge was thanking her for staying with him. But now it was more intense. She was finding it hard to breathe and was beginning to shake. It was difficult to keep these things hidden while she and the search party were looking for Coolidge. They had quickly organized the party as soon as they returned from the hospital. The group was twenty all together, including Will and herself. Will ordered the group to search everywhere, both in and outside of the city. They began at six thirty and it was currently ten o'clock. No one they asked seemed to have seen Coolidge at all; very few actually knew who he even was. Will called for a break fifteen minutes ago; they would be starting again soon. They took their break at Will's house. many of them like Chloe were just sitting around, doing nothing. She was sitting on the stoop of Will' house. The only thing she could do was looking out into the street at one of the guards; Chloe thought his name was Rouland. He was just standing there doing nothing; he looked very bored. She got up and began to walk over to him.

He noticed her walking towards him and said, "Hello."

"Hello," she said back.

They were quiet for a moment when Rouland said, "Have you had any luck with the search party?"

"We haven't had any luck; we're going to try to look outside of the city soon."

"Well you better be careful, with those crazed assed Radiant here who knows what might happen."

"Yeah…."

More silence ensued, but Rouland again broke it.

"What does the guy look like?"

"Well….He has white hair and a tan. He was wearing white clothes too and-"

"I've seen that guy."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he was asking to go the injured."

"When?"

"A couple of hours ago…"

Hope spread through every inch of Chloe's body. She went right off towards the inn without saying another word to Rouland. It took her less then two minutes to get to the inn. But when she got there the inn was completely dark; Chloe felt her hopes dashed, but she was able to recover them after remembering that the inn had a basement. She walked across the lawn and stood in front of the door leading to the basement. She opened it slowly and stepped inside. The basement was dimly lit; Chloe could hear people talking in whispers and footsteps at the bottom of the stairs. She walked down them and stepped into a large room with tables and chairs everywhere. People were spread out in the room, many were sitting in chairs or on tables, but some were simply lying on the ground. They all looked tired and depressed; they were either asleep or looking down, lost in thought. Chloe felt overwhelmed by the melancholy of the scene and really wanted to get out of there as fast as she could. She walked over to the nearest person, a young man that looked to be about his mid twenties.

"Ex-Excuse me."

The man looked up at her with sad eyes. His shirt was stained with blood, and was ripped in several places.

"Yes?"

"I'm looking for someone."

"Who?"

"His name is Senel Coolidge."

"Senel Coolidge…I don't know that name."

Chloe felt her hopes dashed again, and she began to feel the pain in her stomach again. The young man saw this pain; he tried to think of something to make it stop.

"Maybe…maybe someone else here knows him."

He turned around in his chair and called out, "Does any one here know someone by the name of Senel Coolidge?"

There was dead silence.

He turned back to her and said with a sorrowful voice, "Sorry."

A door in the distance flew open and someone shouted down the flight of stairs on the other side of the room, "Hey! One is close to dying!"

The room instantly became alive; everyone now got up and started to sprint towards the stairwell. The man she had been talking to stood right up and began screaming, "We can't let this one die! If we do they'll be the fifth! Someone call Alcott, we need him back!"

Then he too ran to the door, he was the last one to leave. Chloe was left standing in the melancholy room having the feeling of all her hope drain out of her. She walked to the stairs and began to think of where Coolidge could be. The only place she could think of was outside of Werites Beacon, but where outside of Werites Beacon? She opened up the door and walked out onto the front lawn.

_He could be anywhere….._

"Why is the drawbridge down?"

Chloe turned to where the noise came from and saw a child and a militiaman talking. The militiaman looked very annoyed and angry with the child as he listened to his explanation.

"I was tricked ya see, and there was these guys and-"

"Shut up!"

The kid looked hurt at the statement but didn't say anything.

"You fell asleep didn't you?"

The child still didn't respond.

"I told you, you were too young for this, but you said you were old enough to handle the job, so I let you do it and now look at this!"

The child was beginning to cry. The militiaman looked kind of sad that he made him cry. And he said in a less intense voice, "Listen, it doesn't appear that any one has gotten through the gate ether way, so I guess I can let you off with a warning."

The child's tears subsided; the man then told the kid they had to go. They both walked off towards Raynard's house. Chloe just stood there; she knew who had opened the drawbridge. She walked back towards Will's house as well. The sun began to rise over Werites Beacon, putting light on everything, seeming too suggest that there will be hope for Werites Beacon, but Chloe somehow doubted that. The front lawn of Raynard's house was full of militiamen; they were all standing and listening to their day's schedule. When Will finished speaking they all left for their designated area. Chloe pushed her way through the crowd and made her way to Raynard, who was standing on a makeshift pedestal.

"Raynard, I need to tell you something."

He looked down at her with tired eyes and sayed, "What is it?"

"I think Coolidge is outside of Werites Beacon."

"I see. Well, I'll send men out to look for him."

"I want to go too."

"Chloe, you look tired, I want you to get some sleep."

"But I need to look for Coolidge!"

"You can do that later, listen, there is a vacant house not to far way from here, and I've already sent someone to get things ready for you so all you have to do is just get some sleep."

"But!"

"Go, Chloe."

Chloe saw she wasn't going to get her way so she stood listening to Raynard about where the house was and started off for it. It didn't take her long to get to the house. When she went inside she found it was a one-room house with only a kitchen, a small bedroom, and a large meeting area. She walked up the steps to see a trundle bed laid out for her by the window. She took off her shoes, her sword, and her beret and got in beneath the covers of the bed. After just a minute of closing her eyes Chloe fell asleep.

--

Chloe woke up to a knock on the door. She got her things on and went downstairs to answer it. But before she could get to answer it, the door opened and the child she saw by the drawbridge came in.

"Sorry to come barging in."

"That's alright."

"I got a message for you."

"Really? From who?"

"From Will."

"What is it?"

"He wants you to meet him at Port-on-Rage at four o'clock."

"What time is it?"

"It's about three thirty."

"What! I only have a half an hour to get there!"

"Yup."

"Why didn't you come sooner?"

The boy just shrugged and walked out the door. Chloe went out the door as well. She ran out into the street, she found that it was so different then what it looked like yesterday. There were hardly any people out. Most of them were militiamen. They were standing at every corner watching the few civilians making their way from store to store. After another moment of looking around, Chloe started to run again. She knew it took at least twenty minutes from Werites Beacon to Port-on-Rage by foot; she couldn't be distracted by anything. As she neared the drawbridge she saw it was open. She ran through it, and hoped she wouldn't have to run into any monsters on her way there. But she didn't even see any sign of a monster, which she was grateful for. When she got there she looked at the clock by an office. It read three fifty five. She started looked around, there was a ship docked at the port with people coming off of it. She spotted Raynard at the bottom of the unloading ramp for the ship and walked down to him.

"Raynard, why did you call me down?"

Raynard didn't look at her; instead he kept looking at the top of the unloading ramp.

"Well?"

"Senel is onboard that ship."

Chloe felt a happiness that she had never felt before come over her.

"He-He really is!"

"Yes."

"How do you know he is?"

"I received word that this ship picked up a person with white hair on its way here, and since this is the only ship that will be coming to the Legacy for the next month I assume that he is on this one."

Chloe didn't ask any more questions, she too like Raynard was watching the top of the unloading ramp. Finally, after about five minutes of waiting, two men caring a stretcher came down the loading ramp. On the stretcher was Coolidge. Chloe gasped at the condition of him. He had bandages that were soaked with blood everywhere on his body; his left arm was the worst though. It looked like someone had taken a sword and slashed his arm open. When they got down to the bottom of the ramp they said that they didn't have enough bandages to cover up the wound on his left arm.

After some talking Raynard finally got around to the question they both wanted to know, how did they find him? They both looked at each other and said that they found him in-between the cracks of rocks at the bottom of a cliff.

_So he did try to take his life….._

They said they found him in very bad condition. His whole body was cut from the rocks, and that it took them hours to bandage him. Then they asked Raynard where they should put Coolidge. Raynard pointed to a small cart on the other side of the dock. The two men ran over to it and dumped Coolidge's body as if it was nothing more than a sack. They then ran back to Raynard, he gave them both some Gald and told them to tell their captain that he said thank you. Both of them went back onto their ship and Raynard and Chloe turned to go back to Werites Beacon. The cart had already started ahead of them so they both were alone on their way back.

They just left when Raynard said, "Chloe I have a favor to ask you."

"What is it?"

"Can you watch over Senel?"

"What?"

"I don't know if Senel is going to try to hurt himself again. So I want someone looking after him."

"Sure, I can do that."

"There is another thing to. I want you to try to help Senel get over his current state."

_Helping Coolidge…._

"I'm sure he could use someone to help him get out of his state, and I think you would be very good for the job."

"Really? How?"

"Well, you've both lost someone you care about, so maybe you can try to help Senel the same way you helped yourself."

"You know what happened to my…."

"Yes, I know your mother was killed by a bandit but you and your father survived."

"That was a hard time for my father and I…"

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to upset you."

"No, it's okay."

They were silent the rest of the way back. Chloe could sometimes see the cart in front of them, but besides that there was nothing else out on the road. Chloe kept thinking back to her mother, she remembered how she would take revenge for her mother's death. And how she was angry at her father for not wanting to take revenge with her. He thought it was best to let it pass; she couldn't believe he had said that. Chloe thought back then that her father didn't care about his wife's death, and still to this day she still feels that he doesn't care.

They were at the gates now; the sun was beginning to set. As they walked through the main street they heard bells indicating the start of the curfew. Raynard walked all the way to the hospital with her and then said his good byes. She helped a hospital attendant carry Coolidge's body back to his room and they laid him down on his bed. The attendant then told her that they would bring in alcohol and bandages for Coolidge's arm as soon as they could. She sat down on the chair and watched him; just then she realized how sleepy she was. She began to nod off and within a couple of minutes she fell asleep.

**--**

Chloe woke up to the sound of moaning. She looked around, the room was dark, but she could see Coolidge moving around in his bed. She got up and walked towards him. Chloe could see that they had bandaged up Coolidge's left arm. He kept moving around, mumbling things that she couldn't make out. He looked very distressed, but she didn't know how she could help him. Since she couldn't think of anything she went back to the chair and sat down. Just as she was sitting down Coolidge sat up and looked around wildly.

When he saw Chloe he calmed down. He went back to lying down, and didn't say a word to her.

"Uh, Coolidge, are you alright?"

"Yeah."

Chloe wasn't sure what to do, so she asked him, "Do you need anything?"

"No, I'm fine."

"Okay."

There was silence; Chloe felt very awkward being in the room with Coolidge. She really hoped that something would happen to break the awkwardness.

"Chloe."

"Y-Yes?"

"I failed."

"Coolidge, it isn't your fault th-"

"Yes it is! It's my entire fault; if I had acted quicker I could have saved her."

"Coolidge…"

"If I had saved her this war wouldn't have happened! But no, I didn't save her…"

There was more silence after that. Neither of them talked for a long time. Chloe's awkwardness was replaced by fear. She feared she wouldn't be able to help Coolidge.

"Shirley told me to."

"Told you to do what?"

"To kill myself."

Chloe was shocked to hear that. From what she heard, Shirley was supposed to be a kind-hearted person. That didn't sound like something a kind-hearted person would say.

"Coolidge, I don't think Shirley would ever tell you to-"

"But she did. She told me that if I killed myself that Stella and her would forgive me for failing them."

_He fully believes that she told him to do it. I might not be able to help him._

"But I failed to kill myself, and they refused to forgive me."

"Coolidge, you're not going to try to kill yourself again, right?"

"Yeah, and even if I did successfully do it they still wouldn't forgive me."

That made her feel better.

Coolidge didn't say anything after that. Chloe could hear his breathing slow down. He was asleep. She too began to fall asleep. When she woke up, sunlight was filtering through the shades and into the room. She got up and stretched; her back was very stiff from sleeping on a chair. While she stretched she looked down at Coolidge, he looked so peaceful with the light on him. She walked over to him and looked down. He looked so very peaceful. Coolidge seemed to realize in his sleep that someone was standing over him and began to wake up. She stepped back and waited for him to get up. When he was fully awake he leaned up and looked towards her. His expression was very morbid.

"Good morning, Coolidge."

"Good morning."

There was a pause; Chloe wasn't sure what to say.

"Were you sleeping here last night?"

"Uh, yeah," Chloe seemed embarrassed to admit that.

"Chloe, what is it you want?"

She wasn't prepared to answer that question, so she tried her best to think of an excuse.

"I uh, just wanted to make sure you were safe. That's all."

Coolidge didn't respond. Instead, he began to get out of bed and walk towards the door.

"Coolidge, where are you going?"

'I'm going out."

'You're not strong enough; please, go back to your bed and rest."

"No."

He opened the door and began to walk down the hallway. Chloe went after him trying to persuade him to go back into his room.

"Coolidge please, go back to your-"

"I said no!"

Chloe felt that she would never be able to persuade him. So she decided she would just go with him. They made their way out of the hospital and began to walk the streets. The wounds that Coolidge had didn't seem to impair his walking at all. They walked around aimlessly. They went to the stores first, then the plaza and then to the residential area. During the whole walk so far Coolidge didn't talk once, he just kept staring at things with a morbid look on his face. On their way back to the hospital Coolidge stopped suddenly; he was looking at a path that lead to the cemetery.

After a moment of staring, Coolidge said, "This leads to the cemetery, right?"

"Yes."

"Can we go there?"

"Uh, sure, if you want to."

He began to walk to the cemetery. When they got to the cemetery Coolidge walked in front of every gravestone; Chloe just stood there and watched him. After inspecting all of the gravestones Coolidge came back to her with an expression of melancholic look on his face.

"I didn't see a grave marker for Shirley."

"Um, we never got around to making one…"

"Because of the recent events?'

"Yes."

"But uh, we can make one for her if you want."

"If you could, I would like a place where I can go and pay my respects. I miss her so much…"

Chloe was surprised to hear that from him. If what Coolidge said was true, then that means that it was Shirley's fault that he tried to commit suicide. But he was still willing to love her through that.

_He must have really loved her._

"You know what Coolidge, I'm going to talk to Raynard about this the next time I see him."

"Thanks, Chloe." His voice seemed to be in a less of a depressing mood then before.

**I'm not sure when I'll be able to add Chapter 4.**

**Please Review!!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for taking so long to get this chapter up. **

**I don't own Tales of Legendia, Namco does.**

**Chapter 4**

It had been two weeks after the recovery of Senel, and two days after the construction of Shirley's grave. Though it was obvious that Senel's mental and physical state had been improving over the last two weeks, it still seemed as if he was depressed most of the time. It also seemed like Werites Beacon was going through those same changes. Only, there wasn't a lingering state of depression on the atmosphere of the town. The people who didn't leave went back to their normal lives, shops were reopened, and a smile reappeared on everyone's face again. They had good reasons to be happy. The Radiant have not been seen for two weeks, Crusand had been defeated, and the population of Werites Beacon received some of the spoils. In fact, if it wasn't for the new reinforced walls and the plaque that commemorated those that fell during the attack, it would have all been forgotten.

_This is bad_.

Thought Will as he looked over his papers that were lying haphazardly all over his desk. The council had been disbanded on the account of no known enemy movements.

_They're all ignorant_.

Will imagined them at their home eating dinner and having happy conversations with their friends and families. All blissfully unaware of what might, no, what will happen. It is only a matter of time until they come back, and this time they will be more prepared.

_What to do? What to do?_

The militia men's numbers under his command had been cut in half. Most saw no need to defend the city and went back to their families and jobs. He doubted that they would come back unless there was another attack.

There was sudden sound of shuffling feet outside the door and Will looked up nonchalantly. "Come in."

The door opened and there stood Alexander Rouland, looking very sad. He had taken double night shifts every night for the last week on top of the shifts already assigned to him. His composure was that of sickly old man, hunched and with a face that matched his poise.

_It does not look like he's ready to fight at all._

Rouland gave a weak smile and came in. Will motioned him to sit in one of the chairs across from him and Rouland eagerly complied. When he sat down he took out a rag and wiped the sweat from his sickly face.

"So why did you come and see me?" Will asked.

Rouland had some trouble coming up with the words, but when he did he whispered them in a groggy voice which Will could barely make out.

"Well uh, General Raynard…"

"Yes?"

"Uh, you know how long I've been working for the last week…"

"Yes?"

_I know where this is going…_

"Well you know there haven't been any recent attacks, and I was wondering if it would be possible to-"

"Take your leave?"

Rouland looked a little surprised and nodded.

"But if you need me more I can stay. It's just that there doesn't seem to be any real trouble, and… well I guess you know about how we aren't real soldiers, and we aren't being paid for this."

Will understood; he didn't think Rouland had a family, but sooner or later he was going to have to find a way to pay his bills. And Will knew standing around at some tower all day in all weather for free wasn't going to pay them. He sighed.

"Alright... you may take your leave."

"Thank you, general…. If you ever need additional help you can always come to me."

And with that said he slowly got up and walked into the hallway. What Will didn't understand was why Rouland had asked him to leave. He wasn't a solider; he could leave whenever he wanted to. In fact, when Will thought on it more, he realized that Rouland was the only one who asked him if he could leave. Will looked down at his papers again.

_We might need you sooner than you think_.

--

Senel was in a daze. It felt like there was some type of fog that was covering his mind. The more he went through this daze, the more he realized how lost he was. He also realized that if it wasn't for Chloe and Will he probably would have been stuck in this daze for a very long time. But, thanks to them, it seemed like it was slowly clearing. The fog had cleared to the point where he could come to the conclusion that Shirley had not told him to take his own life. Maybe it was just himself saying that he failed. He yawned and looked around. He was sitting on a bench at the plaza. He looked out to see many types of entertainers. People were crowded around them to see their performances. The more he looked around the more he came to notice the large amount of people. It seemed as if all the residents of Werites Beacon were attracted to this center of entertainment. But then he noticed someone who was not observing the sights of the performances. He had his hair in a pony tail, had on purple clothes, was very pale, and very short. The man noticed Senel looking at him, and then started to walk over to him. Senel didn't bother to move, he just kept watching the man walk towards him. When the man finally made his way to him they were looking at each other face to face, even though Senel was sitting. He then realized that this wasn't a man, more like a kid.

"Well hello there." The kid said in a very monotone, apathetic voice.

Senel didn't respond.

"You know, it is not polite to stare." The kid still talked apathetically.

Senel still didn't respond.

"What are you mute? Or are you too stupid to talk?" This time there was a conceited tone to his voice.

"Why don't you mind your own business?" Senel would have liked to make the kid take back what he just said, but he was still suffering the effects of being dazed.

"Then maybe you should mind your own as well." With that he turned and walked out of the plaza.

_What a weird kid. Hope I don't meet him again._

Senel breathed out another sigh, stood up, and left the plaza as well. Walking along the crowded streets was still somewhat of a shock for him after seeing them barren only just two weeks before. His daze made it hard for him to remember some things, like where Will's house was. So he stood there thinking until someone bumped into him. Senel turned around to see a man who was too busy observing what was going on in the street to notice him.

"Sorry." He said as he quickly moved forward.

Senel looked back in the direction that the man had come from, to see a weeping woman in chains. The first thing that struck him was that she was a Radiant, but after further evaluating, he thought he could be wrong. Though she looked like a Radiant, there was something about her that seemed Orerines, like the way she walked, or maybe even the way she cried. He then noticed that she was being led by men that kept leading her forward and two men on the sides of her holding out their hats to the residents. Everyone would put a few Gald into the hat as it passed them by. While doing this, the two men had to dodge things being thrown at the woman as well. Senel looked at the residents that had formed around her; they were the ones who were throwing things. He then began to hear things now, as if the daze he was in had somehow made him mute for a period of time.

"Make way for the bitch! Make way for the bitch!" The man who was leading her screamed in loud booming voices that seemed to echo off of every surface.

_How could I __**not**__ hear that?_

When the men got to Senel they pushed him violently out of the way as they continued on their course. People began running past him trying to keep up with the group. Senel stopped a young boy and asked what was going on.

"They brought a half blood bitch from the main land!" He said this with a tone of absolute enjoyment which perturbed Senel greatly.

"Half blood?"

"Yeah, that's right! Someone who is half us, and half Radiant; they're really rare." The boy's way of making it sound like the girl was just something and not a human being made Senel angry.

"And what are they doing with her here?"

"Well, first they're going to make it march the streets, and then they're going over to Will's house. Dad says something about it going to be a spy for us, or similar to it."

"They're going to parade her around in the streets?!?" Senel was almost at the point of losing control. It seemed the more angry he got, the less of a daze he was in.

"Well of course! Dad says the owners need to make money somehow. And like I said, its kind is rare."

The urge to smack the kid was now immense and Senel had to use every last bit of his strength to fight it off.

_How could Will allow such an inhumane thing to happen here! Isn't he the sheriff! Aren't there laws that make this illegal?! _

Senel began to run towards Will's house. He couldn't see the crowd, so they were probably still out parading.

_Lucky for them. If I saw them now I would have to beat their asses__._

He made his way to Will's, went in without knocking, and found Will in his kitchen.

"Damn it, Will, how could you let something like this happen?"

Will frowned in confusion, and then he realized what Senel was talking about.

"Senel, I know what it looks like, but in the end it will help her."

"Like hell that's going to help her!" His breathing had become louder. If it wasn't for the fact that Will could take him down before he could attack, he would have charged.

"Senel, calm down, you didn't let me explain."

"Explain what?"

"You know that she's a half blood right?" Senel nodded.

"Well, I was planning on using her to spy on the Radiant for us."

"Why would she want to help us? After seeing the way she was treated, I don't think she will comply."

"Because after she is done spying for us, she will be free."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, it was not cheap, but, like you, I don't want to see someone treated like that."

"Why wouldn't she just join the Radiant once she's free?"

"Because if the Radiant were to find out who she was, they would kill her on the spot."

"But couldn't she just run away?"

"Where? No one would accept her. The Radiant would kill her, and we will just use her to make a profit out of."

"But-"

"He's right Coolidge."

Senel spun around to see Chloe. Her face showed an expression of pity and sadness.

"I've seen this kind of thing before Coolidge. A young man like her escaped, but he had nowhere to go. He wanted to live, but not the kind of life that the young woman outside is living, so he ended up becoming insane, and eventually killed himself."

Senel didn't know how to answer. He was afraid that Chloe and Will would wait until he would say something. But, much to his relief, there came a loud banging at the door.

"The bitch is here!" Called the same booming voice that Senel had heard earlier.

Will began to make his way to the door and Senel was about to follow him.

"Don't, Coolidge." He turned. Chloe had a serious look in her eye. He nodded and stopped moving.

"Now here it is! Your very own half blood bitch! I would recommend that you keep those chains on it. Ye see, it sometimes gets a little violent when we let it get free."

"I'll make sure I will."

"Well okay. I'll be see'n you then."

Will and the half blood made their way to the kitchen. There Will began to take the chains off. Senel came and helped him. After twenty-five minutes of prying they finally managed to see what she looked like underneath the chains. The sight was repulsing. Her hair was much longer then they thought; it went down to her upper thigh. It was tangled so badly it looked like the only way to get it untangled was to cut it off. Much of her hair was dyed a deep gray oil color that was caused when the hair was tightly packed by the chains. Senel then noticed her clothes, the sight of which made him blush a little. What she was wearing wasn't really clothes, more like to strips of cloth that covered her breasts and her waist. Senel quickly diverted his eyes to her stomach, which was bulging, but not from being full, it was like that because she was so hungry. He then moved onto her arms, which were badly bruised and flea bitten. He stopped his evaluation and looked over at Will. He too was evaluating, but he soon ended his evaluation as well, and said in a sympathetic voice, "What is your name?"

She looked confused. As if this was the first time anyone had ever bothered to speak with her. She turned back to Chloe, then Senel, to make sure they weren't the ones being talked to. After hearing no one speak her faced flushed when she realized that she was supposed to answer; she made little grunts and squeals, but could not seem to form any actual words. She kept trying for five minutes. But in the end, she fell to her knees and began to cry. Senel could not tell if they were tears of fear or of frustration.

"I guess she can't talk," said Chloe as she moved to comfort her.

"It appears so. I'm still trying to decide what to do about her. I know the inn or hospital would not take her in…"

"Why don't you just let her stay here?" Senel said with some confusion.

"I was thinking about that, but decided against it."

"Why?"

"Because I have many visitors. If they were to see her, who knows what might happen."

"Couldn't you just keep her in her room?"

"Yes, but I want to her to be free. Tell me. Do you think being locked in a room alone is any different than being locked in a cage all day? True, she has many comforts, but what are these things to her?"

Senel reluctantly knew that Will was right.

_But where should she go?_

"Raynard, I think the first thing we should do is to clean her and feed her."

"You're right, come on let's give her a bath and give her some new clothes."

After giving her a bath and changing into new clothes, Chloe set to work on cutting her hair. Apparently it was worse than Senel had imagined, Chloe had to cut the half blood's hair all the way to her ears, giving her a very boyish look. While her hair treatment was going on, Will was preparing her food. When it was brought to her she began to consume it in great bites and swallowed little. This caused her to choke twice, and Senel saved her on both occasions. When she was done eating she went over to the couch and fell onto it. Chloe then brought over a blanket and put it over her. She soon went to sleep.

"Will, do you know what you are going to-"

Boom! The door suddenly slammed open.

Senel, Chloe, and Will spun around to see a man standing at the door.

"W-Will! A caravan has been attacked!"

"What?!?"

"Just outside of Port-on-Rage. All the goods were stolen and people have been kidnapped!"

"How many people?"

"At least fifty, maybe even more."

Will got up and rushed out the door, followed by Senel and Chloe.

"Come on, we got some of the militia men. They are waiting in the plaza."

They ran to the plaza, to find many people standing around. Some had confused looks on their faces, others were talking silently in a group, but most were waiting for Will to speak. When Will reached the front of the crowd he turned and shouted as loud as he could:

"Escort all civilians out of Werites Beacon; we're taking them to the mainland! I then want you to find people who are willing to stay and fight! Men or women, it does not matter! Next, I want a group to follow the Radiant's trail and to see where they're hiding, and that's it! **Don't** try and engage them in any sort of fighting! Lastly, go to Port-on-Rage and tell them to issue a statement saying that no ships can dock there as soon as tomorrow and it will be closed until further notice."

And with that, all the men went their own ways. It was not until sometime after that Will received word from the group that had went to search for the Radiant. The group had come back, but some were missing and others were injured. Will was furious as to why they were this way. They met at the plaza looking at some twenty or so men. Senel believed they originally started with forty.

"General Raynard, we didn't engage the enemy. Rather we were ambushed, shortly after we had found their hiding place," said the second in command of the group. Apparently their leader had been lost somehow.

"Where is their hideout?"

"Well it was something I'll never forget! It was this massive gorge, filled with the oddest of things!"

Will turned away from them and mumbled. "Could it possibly be the Great Hollow?"

He turned back towards them.

"I think you are referring to the Great Hollow."

"Is that what it's called?"

"Well, assuming that I know what you are talking about, then yes, it is called that."

"Well okay, yeah, there you are, then."

They left and Will turned to Rouland, who apparently had been turned into Will's personal secretary, and told him to keep the city well fortified. He didn't believe that they would try and attack the city, but he wanted to be safe.

"Raynard, what should we do now?" Chloe sounded a little frightened.

"We will do nothing for now. I don't have enough men to take siege to a place like that."

That was the end of their conversation. They left the plaza and began to begin the path down the road. As they made their way to Will's house, Senel saw some of the residents that had come back being escorted by militia men. The look on their faces was hard to describe. It seemed as if they had lost hope of ever coming back, but there still remained a glimpse of hope that they might return. But soon their faces and their emotions were soon forgotten as they went by. And other then this, and a few other deportees, the group met no one. When they got to Will's house Chloe said her good-byes and they parted ways. Senel and Will walked through the gate and stopped when they reached the door. They thought they heard the sounds of feet running about in the house. They opened it slowly to find all the lights off. Then the noise was heard again. This time it seemed that the sound of the feet had become a little more urgent. Then without warning, a small shape came lunging at them from the darkness, Senel and Will were about to attack when they realized who it was. The half blood. Will, after seeing who it was, went and turned on the lights, Senel led the half blood over to the couch were they sat down.

"She must have woken up when we were gone and went looking for us." Said Will, his voice full of optimism. Senel wasn't quite sure why, though.

"Yeah… I guess this is going to make a place to keep her harder to find."

"That might not be so." Will got up and went to the window and looked out of it.

"Really, And why is that?"

"Because, with the evacuation there will be no one but the militia men."

"So?"

"So… It means we can keep her here. And if any one tries to take advantage of, or to harm her, they would have face my wrath."

Senel knew what he was saying, but there was still a question that still needed to be solved.

"Will… How do you plan to use her as a spy if she can't speak?"

Will took a deep sigh and turned around. He looked at Senel and said in great frustration.

"I don't know, but what I do know is that we can't do anything as of now because of it."

With that Will told the half blood to come with him, and they went up stairs. Senel didn't do much; he just looked out of the window for a while. He thought of what had happened, and also of what could happen and shuddered at the thought. He then thought some more, but his thoughts were interrupted by the chimes of the clock, which chimed that it was two in the morning. After hearing that, Senel looked away from the window, lied down, and went to sleep.

--

Senel awoke to the feeling that someone was staring at him. When he opened his eyes he saw that the half blood was looking down at him with curiosity. As he began to get up she leapt away, but in the process tripped and fell. As he made his way towards to her she became frantic and quickly scurried away to the wall. This feat that she had just undertook, apparently made her tired, and soon she collapsed and began to breathe heavily. Her eyes slowly closed and she no longer moved. Senel became frantic himself after seeing this. He realized that the dirt that had covered her body also covered a myriad of bruises. He began to search everywhere in the house, but could not find Will. He was about to head out, but when he heard the front door being opened. Senel rushed over to find Alcott, Will, and Chloe standing in front of the door.

"Good you're all here; look, that girl collapsed over in the living room."

"Well then it's a good thing I came here then." Said Alcott.

He walked over to her and began to examine her. While he was doing this Senel was hoping that he hadn't done anything to harm her.

"Well she collapsed from exhaustion… What happened to her? There are bruises and flea bites all over her body. I know she was different, but did she really deserve treatment like this?"

_No she didn't._

Senel could feel his anger coming back. Then, he realized something; he did not feel dazed once since yesterday.

"She probably has many more problems, and I doubt that I can treat them all. Not only that, she probably has emotional and mental scars. Come on; help me lay her down on the couch."

With little difficulty, Will, Senel, and Alcott were able to put her on the couch. Chloe then brought a blanket and laid it on top of her.

"She is going to need constant bed rest. You are going to have to feed her many types of food as well. I will stop by twice a day, but if you ever need me any other time, I will be at the makeshift infirmary at the inn."

"Thanks, Alcott." Will said this in a relieved tone.

"Of course."

He made his way out the door and left the four of them there.

"Senel, Chloe, I want you to look after her if you don't mind."

"Of course not Raynard."

"Sure Will."

"Alright then, I will be attaining to other business if you need me."

Will nodded to both of them and he went outside. Senel and Chloe sat at the couch across from the one that the half blood was resting on. They sat there doing nothing except watching the half blood. They waited for something to happen. Maybe some event that would ride on their actions on whether or not she would survive. But they knew that they would never want to be faced that kind of situation. And nothing like that did happen. It had been two hours since Will had left, and Senel was beginning to wonder how long he was going to have to sit here doing nothing. Even though he had nothing to do at all, he still wished that he could be doing something else then just sitting here.

"So did you hear?"

Senel turned to Chloe. Even though they had sitting next to each other for the whole two hours, they hadn't talked. And he thought it was a weird time to start now.

"Hear what?"

"That all the militia men are moving into the vacant houses."

"Is that so?"

_Couldn't have chosen a more boring subject, could you?_

"Yeah, since there is no one living there now they decided those houses will be the new barracks."

"Really?"

_Is this what we're going to talk about for the next couple of hours? Oh well… Guess I can just tune her out. _

"Yes, it's because they need that space to-"

_Heh, it's kind of easy to tune her out. Now what am I going to do? I don't know how much help I will be around here. But I can't go back to the mainland. Maybe I can just look after that half blood, even though it's boring. I'm sure I can-_

"Coolidge!"

"What, is there something the matter!?!"

Chloe frowned.

"No Coolidge, I was trying to ask you something, but you must have not been paying attention."

"Oh, what are you trying to ask me?"

"About the housing."

Senel made a silent groan.

"Yeah, you were talking about that."

"Well you know how I've been staying at the hospital."

"Yeah."

"Well… the hospital is closing and I had no place to go, but Raynard offered me a house."

"Yes? Where are you going with this?"

"I wanted to know if you would move in with me."

The feelings of boredom and of sarcasm left Senel. He now felt the feelings of awkwardness and something else that he could not quite name, taking their place. There then ensued awkward silence. Chloe shifted nervously and was blushing slightly. Senel didn't respond. He was too busy trying to understand the new emotion inside of him. After a long pause that seemed to go forever Chloe finally spoke.

"I-I mean you don't have to. I w-was just thinking that since you stay here and I stay at that place. Maybe we should move in together?"

"Yeah… sure, I guess it's okay with me. If it's okay with you?" Senel couldn't believe what he just said. She was the one who offered it in the first place.

"Uh, yeah it is…"

"Okay then, I guess you can show me our new home when we're done here?"

"Sure, that's fine."

With that, the conversation ended. Though, it didn't get rid of the awkwardness. They didn't talk until Will got back. And that was four hours later. He thanked them both for watching and they both replied that it was no problem. Chloe left in a hurry, but before she went she told Senel to meet her at the hospital at six o'clock. At around five o'clock Senel began to pack the few things he owned. When Will saw what he was doing he went over and asked why he was packing.

"I'm moving in with Chloe at her new house." Something about saying that didn't seem right.

"Hmm… very interesting…" Will smiled.

"It's not like that!"

"Not like what?"

"You know what I mean!"

"No I don't! But, if you would, indulge me in matters of you and Chloe?"

"Go to hell!" Senel got up and left a half an hour early. He didn't even bother to say good bye.

--

When Senel left Will checked on the half blood to see how she was doing. He found her asleep. After making sure she was okay, Will went up to his room. He went over and sat at his desk. While he was out this morning he had asked Rouland to observe the behavior of the militia men, and report to him what he had seen. Will was dreading the report. There came a knocking at the door.

"Come in."

Rouland came in and closed the door silently. He turned to him and sighed.

"How bad is it?"

"Well… General Will, the men have turned to booze."

_Great._

"Well at least we can break them of that habit."

"There is more sir."

_Ah hell…_

"Like what?"

"There are prostitutes as well."

"What! Tell the men to stop indulging in their services immediately!"

"I tried, sir. But they refused to…"

"Is there anything else that they are doing?"

"Some have begun using opiate sir."

Will couldn't believe that.

"Opiate, as in the opiate they use at the infirmary?"

"That's the one sir."

"How did they get into it in the first place?"

"They were probably wounded, and were treated with it."

"Why are the men turning to these things? There really isn't a good reason. Or is there?"

Will looked at Rouland to answer the question.

"Well sir, they are angry and frustrated."

"Why? Why is it that are frustrated?"

"Because sir, they feel that you aren't doing enough to fight the Radiant. And they want to avenge the deaths of their comrades. Remember sir, everyone is friends with everyone in this town. And they hate how you are not letting them take action for their friend's deaths."

"Still… they shouldn't be turning to all of those things just because they're angry."

"They are also afraid. We are not soldiers; none of us are prepared to die. And they fear death greatly."

When Will did not respond to the last comment, Rouland took his leave, but before he left the room and said one more thing.

"There has been talk of an uprising… though, I think they were drunk and they didn't know what they were talking about. So, I wouldn't worry."

Then he left, leaving Will alone.

_Am I really cut out to be a leader?_

--

Even though he was an half an hour early Senel went to the hospital any way. When he got there he was surprised to see Chloe already waiting.

"I-I'm sorry if you were waiting."

"What, oh, uh, it's no problem. I was just done packing early, so I decided to start waiting."

"Still…" Senel couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Well, shall we go?"

"Ah… sure."

They walked past the quiet residential area, past Will's house where, Senel could have sworn that he saw Will looking out the window at them. Then they went past the shops until they came to a small house. The house was next to the slow meandering river that ran through the town. It had a small garden in the front as well as a gate, but besides these things, there was nothing particularly unique about it. When they got inside the place was empty. There was a large foyer that led into a small kitchen. A flight of stairs led to a small area where a bed and other personal paraphernalia were supposed to go. All and all, it was a small house. After some arguing, Senel finally persuaded Chloe that she should have the top area and that he would sleep in the foyer.

It did not take long for them to unpack their things. And when they were done they didn't have anything to do. There was an awkward silence throughout the house. Senel looked at the oven intensely, thinking about food. Chloe was staring out the window. After a half an hour of doing nothing there was a knock at the door. Both of them went right away, happy that there was something to break the monotony. But it was just a delivery man who was dropping off food rations. Since the food was precooked, there was going to be less to do that night. After they ate, even though it wasn't late, they both went to bed. But Senel wasn't able to sleep. There was complete silence in the house, except for Chloe's breathing. After a couple of hours Senel decided to go outside. He got up and headed outside. To the east he heard the groans of the wounded men of the caravan. He decided that he would head north instead; he kept walking north until he came to house with all the lights on. Intrigued, Senel went over to knock on the door. A man with a bandage around his face opened the door.

"Vat ist its yuov vant." Senel could tell that he was drunk.

"Just wondering why all the lights were on."

"Oh… you knows vat, I likes your. Comes inst, comes inst."

Senel didn't want to, but, he it was better than lying in bed. The man staggered and then fell as he moved out of Senel's way. Senel looked to his left to find a room that was turned into a bar. Almost all the men there were drunk, or close to it. But then Senel noticed the kid from the plaza. He was sitting at the counter listening to what one of the drunken men was saying. Senel walked over, carefully avoiding the drunks that were sprawled out on the floor. When he got to the kid the drunk was telling him about the fortifications. But he stopped abruptly and passed out onto the floor. Senel sat down in his place.

"What are you doing here?" Senel asked, more annoyed then curious.

"What does it look like? I'm gathering information."

Senel looked around.

"From drunks?"

"Why yes, you would be surprised to learn the amount of information people tend to give away when they are intoxicated."

"Why would you want to learn about the fortifications and such?"

"Well, gathering information _is_ my job."

Senel was now curious.

"So, you can tell me about anything that's going on."

"For a price, sure."

"Could you tell me about the Radiant's hideout?"

"Sure, but it will cost you eighty-thousand Gald for each piece of information."

"Screw that!"

The pale youth shrugged. "You wanted to know."

Senel left as soon as he heard that. This time he didn't bother to step out of the way on the people on the floor. He was furious, as he went outside he thought.

_Cheap bastard son of a bitch. How can he not help us? Doesn't he know that that kind of information could help save lives, maybe even his own? But, I guess it wouldn't be a bad idea if I told Will about him. I hate the idea of giving that smart ass any money, though._

When he got to Chloe's house when he noticed a shadow in front of the house. He saw the smart ass kid standing around with a look of complete boredom on his face. When he saw Senel he piped up.

"Took you long enough."

"Bastard! Get off my property!"

"If I recall correctly, this property is not yours, it belongs to Miss Chloe Valens."

Senel clenched his fists in rage. He tried to suppress the urge to kick the shit out of the kid.

"Since you're able to suppress your anger so well, I think I'll reward you."

_Jerk!_

"All right, here it is. The militia men are growing more discontent everyday..."

With that he walked off. Senel's rage slowly left him.

_Why are they discontent?_

But before Senel could think on it more a sudden loss of energy caused him to realize how late it was. He looked up at the sky which caused him to find out how bright it was. He made his way through the gate, and then through the door way. He collapsed on the floor. At the moment of impact, he fell asleep.

--

Unbeknownst to Senel, was that Chloe had heard him leave the house that night. After he had left Chloe had followed him to the house. She decided not to follow him in and instead went to the house next door which had all the lights on at the first floor, but not the second. She wanted to know why that was, so she went and knocked at the door. A middle aged woman answered.

_Weird. I thought I was the only women living on this stre-  
_

Chloe saw what she was wearing. It was probably the most revealing outfit Chloe had ever seen. Chloe looked away, trying to keep some of her dignity.

"What is it honey? You want a job? Well you are a good looker, I'm sure you could earn twice the amount as our average with your looks."

"No!"

Chloe stepped back and speed right down the road. She didn't look up in time to see two men walking in front of her. She ran into both of them

"I'm so sorry I-"

"You stupid bitch! Look what you made me do."

He was pointing at himself. Chloe could see that he had spilt his drink all over himself.

"She did the same for me too."

The other man was pointing at himself as well.

"I'm truly sorry I-"

"Hey you know what, me and my pal will forget this whole thing if you can get us in for free.'

"What?"

He pointed towards the house Chloe was just at.

"We saw you coming out of old Berm's place. We'd go there more often if the bitch didn't charge as much."

Chloe went over and slapped him.

"How dare you mix me up with those kinds of people! Wait…. Kings? Kings is that you?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"I know you! You used to be the gardener for the city. What happened to you?"

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about."

"You used to be very nice to people. You had a caring wife and-"

"Go on. What?"

"Are you cheating on your wife!?!"

"Hey! My wife left and took the kids, so it's alright."

"She had to!"

"No, she could have stayed. Could have helped."

"But that doesn't mean she left you!"

"Well it's all the same to me."

Both men walked past her and down the road, and Chloe silently made her way back to the house.

_What's happening to these people? When I first moved here everyone was nice and welcoming, but now… this._

She went to bed, but didn't go to sleep. So she heard Coolidge's shouting outside of the house.

"Coolidge… are you becoming like them too?…."

--

The next morning Chloe found Coolidge on the blankets he had brought with him. Hostility was still radiating from him, even long after the fight last night. She moved around him slowly, as to not disturb him, and she made her way outside. It was very cloudy out; and the town had an atmosphere of some kind of drunkenness. As if everything had been slowed down and turned somber. She had decided last night she would go talk to Raynard about what had happened to her last night. On her way to his house Chloe looked along the fortifications. There was no one standing guard. She thought of the men that used to stand guard there, now though, they were probably half drunk on some floor with a bottle still in their hand. When she got to Raynard's house there appeared to be no one home. But when she knocked on the door a tired Raynard answered.

"Oh, hello Chloe… please come in."

"Thanks Raynard."

After going through his foyer and then into his living room she saw the half blood sitting on the couch. She was staring at a piece of paper, as if she was waiting for it to do something.

"So why did you come to see me?"

Chloe was trying to find the right words to say.

"Well Raynard… look… I have strong reason to believe that there are women in this city helping out the men in a different way…"

_That sounded very awkward._

"Uh, I knew about this already. We tried to get them to leave, but they hid when we were evacuating. And when Rouland tried to get them to leave again, none of the men would do it. I would go and do it myself, if I wasn't so busy."

"I also have a strong reason to believe that the men are getting drunk… all of the time."

"I know that too, but at least we can fight that one."

"How so?"

"I'm going to release a statement latter today that states that there will be prohibition. But, if they feel a need, temperance will also be accepted."

"That sounds like a good idea."

"Yes, I think so too."

"But what about the women?"

"The moment I find the time, I will go down there and order them to end their services and become a part of the medical staff. All those that don't comply will be jailed under acts of prostitution."

There a sudden sound, it was like a muffled cry. Chloe spun her head to see the half blood cowering on the couch with tears running down her face. She opened and close her mouth each time a sound that was just gibberish came out. But the more she did this, the more her words could be understood. She was eventually to make high squeaky words.

"P-p-p-please don't p-put in a-a j-jail."

Chloe turned to Raynard. It looked like he trying to figure out what she was talking about. But Chloe already knew.

"Don't worry, nothing will happen to you." Chloe tried to say this in the nicest voice possible.

"Bu-But I did-"

"Shhhhh."

Chloe really didn't want to hear what the half blood went through.

_Sick bastards, doing that to a poor girl, will she ever be able to get over those experiences?_

"Ah. No, ma'am, we won't put you in jail." Raynard just figured it out.

She stopped crying and looked up. Her eyes showed curiosity, as if having the ability to talk now has turned the world into a new place.

"Um… if you wouldn't mind can you please tell us your name?" Raynard sounded very excited now.

"My name…" She creased her brow and seemed to be in a state of deep thought.

"Do you remember it?" said Raynard.

Chloe doubted it. After seeing and hearing about what had happened to her. It would be likely that she repressed all of her past memories.

"Name is Raine. I don't remember Radiant one."

Chloe was surprised that she could remember it.

"But that no help. You needs me to go spy on Radiant."

"Err…" Raynard turned red after hearing that.

"It's okay, you saves me."

"Are you sure? You will be risking your life though."

"I know, it's okay. But hair is a problem though…"

"What does your hair have to do with it?" Chloe unconsciously moved her hand to her hair.

"From what I have seen and heard. Radiant has long hair. "

Chloe thought back to when she young, before she cut her long hair. The memory still haunts her, though she doesn't understand why.

_I was sure that I wanted to be a knight. To prove that I was strong. To show that the Valens' name was not fully tarnished by father! But, sometimes though… was that really the smartest thing to do?_

Chloe shook off the thought and went back to listening to Raine.

"Can you tell us anything about your life before you were captured?" Chloe asked this hoping it would take her attention fully away from her hair.

"Well… I lived on mainland… I was born on outskirts of Radiant village. My father left mother the moment he found she was a Radiant. When the people of the village heard of what had happened they began to chase us…"

"I'm surprised you didn't suppress all of your early memories." Chloe couldn't figure out how she could remember these things.

"Oh, I uh, was told these things by mother before she died."

"Well, please continue." Raynard said.

Raine talked for another two hours. She told them about how her mother dropped her off at an orphanage were she and the other children were physically and verbally abused by their caretakers. It was there that she became mute, for the fear of being beaten. One night the orphanage caught on fire all but a few children including her survived. They formed a street gang were they would steal from anybody who was careless enough to leave their things out in the open. One day she was caught, but they decided to let her go, so she wandered the streets until she found a beggar women who turned out to be her mother. She was only able to spend a couple of days with her before she died. During that time her mother told her about why every bad thing that had ever happened to her happened. But before she was able to tell what happen to her next she stopped talking.

"What the..?" Will said.

"Raine…Raine?" Chloe was beginning to panic.

She still did not move.

"Crap! Chloe come on! We're going to have to take her to the infirmary."

"Right."

Before they could do anything though, Raine came around. She looked confused and asked why they were standing up. They told her what had happened, and she said it was no big deal. She said that sometimes she would relive her old memories. And said that it was fine, Chloe wasn't sure about that though, for there were tears running down Raine's face as she was explaining it to them. They decided that Raine could finish her story latter. Chloe thought that she should go back to her house, so she said goodbye to both of them, and started back towards her house.

--

When Senel awoke, he found that Chloe wasn't in the house.

_She must be out training. I'll go see if I can join her._

He traveled north to the park and then into the residential area. When he got into the area he saw a large tree by the small river that ran through the city. Senel went over and sat down underneath the tree. It reminded him of when he, Stella, and Shirley were living in the village together. They would talk at a spot like the one he was sitting at now. He yawned. He didn't realize how tired he still was. He closed his eyes and laid his back against the tree. No noises were heard except for the running of water. Before he knew it, he was asleep. Only a short time after falling asleep, there was a noise. Senel opened his eyes and looked around. It was dark, not because it was late, but because of the cloud cover.

_Looks like it's going to rain; better get back to Chloe's house._

But before he got up, he heard a familiar voice.

"Where are you going?"

Senel turned and groaned. It was that kid in the purple clothes again.

"What is it to you?"

"Well, I'm afraid I can't let you go anywhere." Senel became much more alert. It was hard since he had just woken up, but he tried his best.

"And why is that?"

"I can't tell you… good night. You idiot."

Before Senel could react, the kid was right up in front of him with something in his hand. He lifted it up and threw it down on Senel. Senel tried to block, but his drowsiness made him slow. Before he could do much else he was knocked unconscious.

--

While Chloe was making her way back to her house, she saw that all the militia men were on the street heading towards the plaza. They all looked dazed, staring around with big observing eyes as if they just got here from far away. When she got to her house no one was home.

_Where's Coolidge? He must be out training or something…_

It was dark inside the house even with the lights on. All the cloud cover outside seemed to suck up all of the light. She sighed.

_Not much to do… seems like we're getting nothing done. I hope that Raynard's statement might help bring the men out of their depression._

The door opened behind her and she turned. To her surprise it wasn't Coolidge, but some kid in purple clothes. Chloe reached for her sword.

"What do you want?"

_What the hell? Why didn't he knock?_

"Hello." He said in a creepy, optimistic voice.

He started to walk into the house, looking around with a little grin on his face. Chloe pulled out her sword.

"Don't come any closer!"

He continued to walk in anyway, right to where Coolidge's bed was. When he got there he looked down and a look of distaste fell on his face.

"What do you want?"

"What do I want…?"

"Are you drunk or something?"

"No. But Miss Valens, I don't think it's about what I want. It's about what you want."

Chloe staggered back.

_How the hell did he know my name!?! And what does he mean "what I want?"_

"Ah, I have startled you, my apologies."

"Just tell me whatever it is, and get out!"

"Alright, alright; this is about a Mr. Senel Coolidge."

"What about him?"

"He seems to have disappeared."

--

Rouland looked out into the crowd. The men looked dazed and discontent, not how the men were supposed to look. Will was taking longer then he said he would, and Rouland was getting worried that if he didn't come soon they would leave or worse.

"Where's Will at?" Someone called from the crowd.

"I don't know. He should be here soon though…"

"He better get his ass over here soon, or I'm leaving!"

"What did you just say? Show some respect for the general!" Rouland couldn't believe the disrespect of the solider.

"Shut up! You can't make us do anything!"

Rouland was glaring around to see who were making these comments. He spotted a pair of men mumbling to one another in the middle of the crowd.

"You two talking! Yes, you two in the middle, come up here!"

The two men made their way to Rouland with surprised faces.

"You think you can talk any way you want?"

"Ah… no Rouland, no we can't."

"Then why were you talking disrespectfully to me and about the general?"

"We weren't!"

"Don't give that crap! I saw you two talking"

"We were talking about the guys who were making the comments…"

"What!?!"

"It's not them you idiot! Hey Earls, Langston! Did ya listen to how that bastard was talking to ya? You shouldn't have to take that! after all, he is the same rank as us!"

Rouland felt that he was being pushed into a corner.

_Why are they acting this way? Is it from the booze? Yeah, that's probably it. Too drunk to know what they are talking about._

Earls and Langston looked at him with malice.

"Yeah, we only talk respectfully to Will."

"What? You mean that pompous self appointed leader of ours? All he does is stay in his house and take care of some bitch, while we stand outside and guard in all weather?" A new voice said this somewhere further back in the crowd.

The crowd began to now act as one entity. Swaying from side to side with rage. Rouland began to step back away from the crowd. Now it began to talk in one universal tone of hate.

"Bring Will here now! We want to change some things!"

"Bring out the bitch! Let's see how she treated! Probably better than us!" All these things were said by the militia men.

Then the crowd began to move. But to Rouland's horror, it was no longer a crowd, but a mob. Only a few soldiers were left standing there. As Rouland started to rush forward to try and stop the mob, a rock was thrown at him. It hit him on his cheek. He touched his cheek and found that it was bleeding profusely. When he turned to see who had thrown it another one hit him, and then another, and then another. Soon a barrage of rocks was being thrown at him from every which way. All Rouland could do was lie down, cover his head, and hope that the throwing of rocks would soon stop.

_Where's Will? Why didn't he come? What's going to happen to me?_

His body was being turn to ribbons as the rocks hit him. Blood was pouring from all over his body. And what was worse is that the rocks were still being thrown at him. As rocks being thrown at him Rouland realized something horrific.

_These rocks. They're hitting me perfectly every time… There's no way a drunk could do this… that means… They know exactly what they are doing…_

--

Will was on his way to the plaza. He knew he was a little late, but he sent Rouland ahead, so it should be alright. As he locked his door he heard footsteps behind him. He turned and saw Chloe standing in front of him. She was panting and some sweat was running down her brow.

"Well you needed to come here in a hurry didn't you Chloe. Well, what is it?"

"It's Coolidge!"

"Uh… Look Chloe, Senel is my friend too, but I have to be somewhere right now. And I'm sure whatever it is he has gotten himself into he can get out of."

"But I think this could be serious!"

Will saw that Chloe had a look of fear in her eyes; he sighed. He was going to be really late.

"Okay, okay, you can tell me on the way to the plaza."

She told him everything. About how Senel was gone when she got back and about some mysterious kid telling her that Senel wasn't in the city, or worse. When she was done talking Will stopped and looked at her. He knew that the less amount of time it would take to calm Chloe down, the faster he could get to the plaza.

"Chloe, you don't know if what that kid was saying was true or not. He could be trying to trick you."

"No, no, I searched everywhere for him, but I can't find him! What if he tries to commit suicide again! I can't let that happen… can't let that happen…"

"Listen Chloe, you and I have been helping Senel get over his loss, and from what I could tell he does not seemed depressed anymore."

Before Chloe could respond, the two heard yelling. They turned to see a large mob of militia men was starting towards them.

"There he is!"

"Who's that bitch with him?"

"It's that knight girl, or whatever she calls herself."

Will stepped in front of Chloe.

"What is it that you want?"

There were multiple responses from the mob until only one could be heard.

"We don't like the way you are governing."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, we want you out!"

"Really? And who is going to replace me?"

"That would be me."

The people in the mob moved to let their new leader up front. When Will saw who he was, his jaw dropped.

"Mr. Ravin!" Will couldn't believe that the owner of the debtor's house was their new chosen leader.

"That's right, I am now their leader."

Will still couldn't believe it.

"Why the hell would they pick someone like you over me?"

"Well you see… these hard working men are tired of just sitting around all day. Instead they want to take revenge on the Radiant for killing their fellows. Something of which you do not allow."

"It's not that I don't want them to attack. It's just that we need more information before we commence one."

"Excuses! We all know that you're harboring one of them! I bet you're trying to negotiate a treaty with them. You would let the Radiant take all of our land and drive us of the Legacy. While you get some of our land with them."

Will could not believe what he had just heard.

"You have no evidence at all to prove that!"

"Well your past tells different."

"What past!?!"

"About how on the main land you murdered your wife and got all the money that was left to her by her father!"

That was too much for Will to take. He used his eres to cast Lightning on Mr. Ravin. He then started towards him, but Chloe came up behind Ravin and tried her best to restrain him. After he had recovered Mr. Ravin pointed to Will and shouted.

"You see how he reacts when his past deeds are brought up! Come, follow me, but leave them! We will deal with them when we come back from our triumphant victory over the Radiant!"

The mob turned and started towards the storage area for their weapons, then towards the draw bridge.

"Ravin you son of a bitch!" Chloe was still restraining him. His pull was getting stronger so she had to kick his legs from underneath him to stop him from getting any further.

"Lies! What he said about my wife was a lie!"

"I know Raynard, I know."

He got up and sighed. He looked over at the mob to see them slowly making their way outside.

_There goes most of our forces._

"They'll all die, Raynard…"

"Yes… but, they choose to die…"

They made their way to the plaza were they found that not all of the militia men had abounded Will. As they made their way around the plaza Will noticed a lump on the ground with rocks around it. When Will made his way over to it he stepped back in surprise and in disgust. For the lump on the ground was Rouland's body. Blood was all over him; pieces of his skin that were sliced from the rocks were now dangling from his body.

"W-what happened to him?"

A sudden rush of sadness fell over Will. He could no longer bear to see Rouland like this and walked towards the remaining militia men and asked what had happened. They told him that while Rouland's attention was focused on the mob, a few militia men crept up behind him and started throwing rocks at him. Soon other people joined in. When Mr. Ravin came and asked why they were throwing rocks at him, they told him that Rouland would try and stop their attack on the Radiant. After hearing that, Mr. Ravin let it continue. Will didn't know what to do now. He felt sad that Rouland had to die like that. He walked over to a bench and sat down.

Chloe walked over to him and said. "Raynard, what are you going to do now?"

"I don't know…."

"Well I hope you don't get too sad about what happened to Rouland. I don't want you to try to commit suicide like Senel."

"Don't worry, I'm not about to go end my life."

Silence ensued and they both just stood there thinking. Chloe about Senel and Will about what to do. Suddenly Will stood up.

"I know what I'm going to do."

"What's that?"

"I'm going to lead my remaining men after them."

"Raynard, I know you want to get back at them for what they have done, but we are severely outnumbered and out resourced."

"I'm not planning on fighting, just the opposite. I'm going to aid them."

"Why?"

"Because they are still my men and it is my responsibility to help them whenever I can."

With that he marched off. When he got to the group of the remaining men he told them that they were to leave immediately. He then told Chloe to look after Raine. Chloe refused on the account that she wanted to fight, and there was a chance that Senel could be there. But after some persuading, he was finally able to get her to stay. When he was done talking to her, all of his men were ready. Then they departed towards what Will believed to be the Great Hollow.

--

Will's forces consisted of six guards, four archers, eight swords men, seven eres users including himself, and one of the survivors of the original team that was sent to the track the Radiant. They had been out for two hours, what was strange to Will was that they had not seen any monsters the whole time they were traveling. When they got to the entrance of the massive gorge everyone was stunned, including Will.

_This must be the Great Hollow._

They could already see the remnants of the battle. Two dead Radiant bodies were lying in front of a platform. Smoke could be seen coming up from the bottom. Will went over to the entrance and stopped.

_How are we going to get down there?_

He heard the groans of men down at the bottom. This took him aback, and as he stepped back he noticed that his finger tips were glowing.

_I wonder…_

"All men with the ability to use eres come over here next to me."

When they were all there their finger tips glowed as well.

_Just as I thought._

But before he could issue any more orders the platform they were on started to move.

Will looked to see that they were ascending into the Great Hallow.

"Keep your wits about you! Be prepared for anything!"

When they reached the bottom the only thing that greeted them were the dead bodies of the militia men and Radiant. After seeing that there was going to be no opposition, he told three of the eres users to bring the others down and the other three to follow him. They made their way past the dead bodies that dangled off of the weirdly shaped walk way. They kept walking until they came to an elevator, which brought them down to another weirdly shaped walkway. This one had more bodies on it, and they were forced to step on them to get to another elevator. This time it led to the bottom of the Great Hollow. At this level Will could only see one or two militiamen bodies.

_Barely made it this far. Still, it appears that they wiped out most of the Radiant, so at least they didn't die in vain._

They found the body of Mr. Ravin draped over a dock that was on an underground lake. The front part of his face was smashed in, and there was blood seeping out of it. His blood was slowly falling into the lake, making the water around the dock turn red. There was a small uninhabited house along with an alcove that had bones of monsters in it. Will would have loved to look at them more closely if it had not been for a discovery of a hole found in the wall. Smoke was pouring from it, and they had to wait an hour before they could go in. What they found was the makeshift cells used by the Radiant to hold their prisoners. The prisoners were either dead or unconscious from the smoke. They found that the Radiant had burned their supplies; apparently they didn't want to leave anything for them. They took the unconscious out and waited for them to recover. While waiting, Will felt something on his arm. He looked to find blood on it. He then looked up to find that more was coming down.

_The blood from the corpses up there is running off and falling down here… as if it is raining blood…_

There was one prisoner that caught Will's attention. She had on a yellow top and skirt that were very dirty. Her hair was tangled and she looked depressed.

_I thought that only militiamen and caravan men were trapped in here. She doesn't look like either of them._

He made his way over to her and said. "What is your name?"

She looked up at him and didn't say anything for a moment, but then said. "Norma…Norma Beatty."

**Well that was a frickn' long chapter. I hoped you liked it. I'm now working on chapter 5, so it should be here soon! I'm going to change the rating of this story to M after I update next.**

**By the way, Raine has a real mental condition. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. And also, opiate is a narcotic that is very addictive. **


End file.
